Video: 'The Battle of Jutland - Royal Navy vs. German Imperial Navy I THE GREAT WAR Week 97' (May 31, 1916 at 1:44)

(Wednesday May 31, 1916, first shots fired by the British light cruiser HMS Galatea at 2:28 p.m. GMT after encountering German vessels; the major gun battle between the primary battlecruiser fleets officially began at 3:48 p.m. GMT; part of World War I) — The Battle of Jutland, a naval battle fought by the British Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet against the Imperial German Navy’s High Seas Fleet, began today in the North Sea, near the coast of Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula.

Video: 'Battle Of Jutland: The Naval Disaster That Won WW1'

The battle ended the next morning with a strategic British victory. There was no clear-cut victor, although the British suffered heavier losses.

May 31, 1916, would be the deadliest day in Royal Navy history with 6,094 seamen killed.