"When the smoke cleared over the North Sea, the world's great armadas--the German High Seas Fleet and the British Grand Fleet--were in tatters; nearly 9000 sailors perished and over 175,000 shipping tons were destroyed. Both sides claimed victory, but by most measures (including simply avoiding total annihilation) the audacious Germans, who had provoked the encounter with their far-mightier foe, came out ahead. It was an epic battle the British should have sewn up. Unchallenged since the Battle of Trafalgar, the global dominance of the British Royal Navy was unquestioned. Yet the Germans, far outgunned and without the element of surprise due to a captured codebook, nevertheless humiliated the world's dominant war machine. The Battle of Jutland is a textbook case taught in every war college in the world; it has been examined minutely from every angle but new findings, including pioneering underwater archeology in 2003, have given rise to new theories about the epic conflict. Using the latest modern science, Battlefield Detectives investigates and asks: what went wrong? Why was Jutland so disastrous for the Royal Navy? And could it be that, in losing the battle, they won the naval war?" -- Publisher's web site.

Originally aired December 13, 2005 on the History Channel. Copyright 2006 from end screen.