Accounts that make Lieutenant-Commander Ralph Seymour the sole explanation for Beatty's signalling problems miss the wider staff structure. Sailors physically handled signals, chief of staff Rudolf Bentinck managed the commander upward, and the senior flag lieutenant supervised work below. Commander Reginald Drax was a trained and experienced officer whose role included ensuring that junior staff were properly supported and trained. The comparison with Evan-Thomas's squadron and Jellicoe's Grand Fleet shows that this dysfunction was unusual across the Royal Navy. Repeated staff failure points to deficient command supervision rather than one individual's mistakes at the signal flags.
Notable Point · 1:19:39-1:23:53
Beatty's signal failure was not Seymour's alone
The closing Jutland aside places responsibility for the battlecruiser staff's signal failures across the command team rather than on one junior officer.