With reference to the anniversary of the battle of Jutland, some years ago, I attended a history lecture at Surrey University organised by the Modern History Group of which I was a member.

The lecture was delivered by a high ranking British Army officer who, after the end of World War II, was in charge of dismantling Krupp, the famous German company, probably largest in Europe in the production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments.

In a survey of Krupp’s history, the lecturer revealed that the guns used by the German navy at the battle of Jutland were made by Krupp and those on the British battleships were made in Britain under a Krupp’s licence at a cost of one shilling and sixpence per gun. So the battle of Jutland, on close analysis, was a contest of Krupp against Krupp.

It is known that the attempt of the German navy to break into the North Sea was prevented by a number of causes, mainly the shrewdness of Jellicoe’s tactics, the superiority in numbers of the Royal Navy and, ironically, the potency of ‘Krupp’ guns used on the British ships.

The dismantling of Krupp was eventually suspended during the Cold War for obvious reasons.

It seems that history is often full of unpredictable twists and turns.