Night action between cruisers, probably at the Battle of Jutland, 31 May-1 June 1916 RMG PV3124, William Lionel Wyllie, circa 1916

Night action between cruisers, probably at the battle of jutland, 31 may-1 june 1916 this dramatic watercolour study shows wyllie's characteristic technique of tightly pinning his paper down on a board to use a great deal of liquid wash in creating it. The two nearest vessels appear to be british cruisers of the 'southampton' type and the later parts of the battle of jutland were the only night engagement in which vessels of this class were involved. The action involved the 2nd light cruiser squadron (led by 'southampton' with the 'dublin', 'birmingham' and 'nottingham') and the german 4th scouting group (led by 'stettin' with 'münchen', 'frauenlob' and 'stuttgart') at about 22. 35. The confused fighting only lasted a few minutes but the german cruisers 'hamburg', 'elbing' and 'rostock' also joined the melee. The range varied between 800 and 3000 yards. The 'southampton' was hit by about 20 shells and the 'dublin' by 13; 'birmingham' and 'nottingham' were not hit. On the german side the 'stettin' was hit twice, 'elbing' once, 'hamburg' once and 'münchen' three times. 'fraunelob' was hit by an unknown number of shells and a torpedo (fired by 'southampton') and sank at about 22. 45 with only nine survivors. Date: circa 1916. Dimensions: 313 mm x 454 mm. Collection: Fine art.