
In the misty North Sea on the last day of May 1916, 250 warships from Britain’s Royal Navy and Germany’s High Seas Fleet clashed in the First World War’s greatest and bloodiest sea battle. Among them was HMS New Zealand, the battlecruiser the Dominion had gifted to the Royal Navy.
Outgunned and outnumbered, the Germans inflicted more damage on their opponents but returned to port, leaving Britain in command of the high seas. Britain lost three battlecruisers and Germany one; both fleets also lost smaller cruisers and destroyers. Six thousand British and 2500 German sailors died.
Among them was one of the few New Zealanders serving with the fleet – 21-year-old Leslie Follett of Marton, a stoker on the battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary. Follett died when the Queen Mary exploded after German shells struck it.
HMS New Zealand survived with only light damage. The ship’s good fortune was attributed to the presence on board of a lucky piupiu and hei tiki, which had been bestowed during the battlecruiser’s visit to New Zealand in 1913 (see 12 April).
Read more on NZHistory
First World War timeline – First World War - overviewFirst World War – The Royal New Zealand NavyFirst World War mascots – Military mascotsHMS New Zealand Great War Story – Great War StoriesLeslie Follett, killed in Battle of Jutland – First World War - overview
External links
- The Battle of Jutland (National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy)
- The taonga of HMS New Zealand (WW100)
- Flax piupiu that bought luck in Battle of Jutland goes on display (NZHerald)
- Leslie Raymond Follett (Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph)
- John Henry Rushworth Jellicoe (Te Ara Biographies)
- Navy League appeal in NZ Herald, 9 June 1916 (Paper Past)
How to cite this page
'HMS New Zealand fights at Jutland', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/hms-new-zealand-fights-battle-jutland, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 31-May-2023
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