On May 31, 1916, Britain’s Grand Fleet met Germany’s High Seas Fleet in the Battle of Jutland- the largest naval engagement in modern history, not surpassed until late in WW2.
On the afternoon of the first day of the battle, a German shell struck a main gun turret onboard the battlecruiser HMS Lion, peeling the 9 inch armor plate as if it was a tin can.
The gun house was full of dead and wounded. One of the few survivors was Major Francis Harvey, of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Horribly wounded, and with both legs blown off, he pulled himself across the burning deck and through raging fires to the voice pipe to deliver his final orders: close the magazine doors and flood the compartment with sea water.
His order was received and the magazine was flooded- an action later recognized as preventing the fires from reaching the ship’s magazine and saving the ship, and the lives of all survivors aboard.
On the afternoon of the first day of the battle, a German shell struck a main gun turret onboard the battlecruiser HMS Lion, peeling the 9 inch armor plate as if it was a tin can.
The gun house was full of dead and wounded. One of the few survivors was Major Francis Harvey, of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Horribly wounded, and with both legs blown off, he pulled himself across the burning deck and through raging fires to the voice pipe to deliver his final orders: close the magazine doors and flood the compartment with sea water.
His order was received and the magazine was flooded- an action later recognized as preventing the fires from reaching the ship’s magazine and saving the ship, and the lives of all survivors aboard.