HMS 'Iron Duke', battleship, at anchor with her guns trained to starboard: study for the Battle of Jutland<br>
(Updated February 2015) An accurate albeit freely done study of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe's  flagship 'Iron Duke' (1912) at anchor, from off the starboard bow and with all guns trained to starboard: the only omission appears to be part of the foretopmast (no yard) and the location is presumably Scapa Flow or the Firth of Forth.  The pencil inscription by Wyllie at the bottom of the drawing  reads (with some added punctuation): 'König [:] Enemy nearly abeam [:] only I[ron] D[uke] firing 5 right guns [:] No derrick [:]  Course SE by E mag[netic] [:] 6 30 GMT [:] Benbow repeats'. These details correspond to the ship's situation as flagship of the Grand Fleet, firing on the German battleship 'König' to starboard during the southern run at the Battle of Jutland, at 18.30 on 31 May 1916. It is expressly stated in the preface to Wyllie's co-authored book 'More Sea Fights of the Great War' (1919) that his naval connections enabled him to make such studies of ships at moorings 'with the guns being specially trained and elevated to the correct position' to suit the battle pieces he was planning. In this case the drawing was probably done in late 1916 or early 1917, since its most significant use  appears to have been for a large oil painting of 'Iron Duke' at Jutland, with other British battleship's in line astern of her, which Wyllie completed for Jellicoe and which is dated 1917. PAF0934 is a drawing showing the composition of the oil, though possibly one for a related etching. The present watercolour was previously wrongly identified as 'King George V'.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:William_Lionel_Wyllie" class="extiw" title="w:en:William Lionel Wyllie"><span title="English painter of maritime themes (1851-1931)">William Lionel Wyllie</span></a>
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1916<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1916-17-00T00:00:00Z/10</div>
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