"1916: 1st Attack Group"

Water Colour with Body Colour

Image size: 16 x 27 3/8 inches (40.5 x70 cm)

Signed, lower right

Framed

The painting shows Panzerkruezer (battlecruiser) SMS (Seiner Majestät Schiff) Lutzow, Kapitan zur See (Captain) Victor Harder, flying the flag of Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Franz Hipper. She leads the 1st Attack group, also called 1st Scouting Group, as they appeared at the time of the Skaggerak (Jutland) battle May 31st 1916. The after funnels are painted red as was the practice when on operations to aid recognition. The ships waited until out of sight of land and then painted their funnels, repainting them grey before reaching port.

Lutzow leads the panzerkruizers Derfflinger, Seydlitz, Moltke and Von der Tann, escorted by destroyers of the II Flotilla B109, B110, B111.

Commissioned in August 1915 Lutzow was anear sister to Derfflinger and the later Hindenburg. She experienced teething troubles with her machinery and was not an effective operational unit until early spring 1916. She was an elegant and well-designed ship although, like all German capital ships, coal-fired.

Lutzow and her squadron played a leading part in the greatest naval action of WW1, the Battle of the Skaggerack (Jutland). Superbly led by Vizeadmiral Hipper they engaged Admiral Beatty’s 1st and 2nd battlecruiser squadrons sinking HMS Queen Mary and HMS Indefatigable with the loss ofalmost all their crews. As the battle developed and it seemed the Hochseeflotte (High Seas Fleet) was going to be annihilated by the whole British Grand Fleet, Hipper put his by then damaged ships between Jellicoe’s fleet and the Hochseeflotte. Lutzow almost certainly fired the shots that sank HMS Invincible. Badly hit and damaged, Lutzow was flooding and steered out of the battle. Hipper shifted his flag, and Lutzow, having received 25 hits, was near to sinking. She was finally scuttled in the early hours of June 1st 1916 with many of her crew still trapped alive below decks. She had a short but gallant life and was the only German modern capital ship lost in the battle.
All ships in the 1st Attack Group also received damage in the Skaggerak battle and only their excellent construction prevented further sinkings. Derfflinger took thirty hits, Seydlitz almost sank. The surviving panzerkruezers, joined in 1917 by Hindenberg served through the war. In November 1918 they were interned at Scapa Flow where on June 21st 1919 they were scuttled by their crews. All were salvaged between the wars and scrapped.

All the destroyers had active operational careers and were also scuttled at Scapa in 1919 and subsequently scrapped.

Ian Lowe’s studio at Scapa Flow is close to Konig’s final resting-place.

To buy the painting or reserve it while obtaining a shipping quote from us

contact  Charles Mayes - cm@marineartists.co.uk   +44(0)20 7352 7759

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A larger photograph / full description is available on request