TWO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

"There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today."

-- Admiral Beattie

The Battle of Jutland in 1916 (Skagerrakschlacht to the Square-Heads) saw the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet win an expensive victory over the German High Seas Fleet.

The Grand Fleet ended up in control of the battle"field", yet lost numerous ships. Including the two ... err ... the one on the left. That's the ironically named Invincible.

Wary of the German ships' powerful gunnery and resilient armour, an over-cautious British Admiral Jellicoe allowed German Admiral Scheer to break off the engagement and scuttle (ho ho) back into Willhelmshaven, and safety.

As is the way of these things, both sides claimed victory. The Germans lost far fewer men and ships. However, the Royal Navy still ruled the waves. The Brits were then able to blockade Germany for the rest of World War I. Considering The Great War To End All Wars Until The Next One was all about making the other mob run out of bullets first, this was not an insignificant outcome. Attrition being what it was.

The High Seas Fleet never again posed a threat and remained couped up in Willhelmshaven for the rest of the war. A situation that didn't exactly please Germany's bellicose sailors who occasionally got busy with a paint-brush.

"Dear Fatherland, you may rest assured
Your fleet's in harbour, safely moored."

-- Graffiti in Willhelmshaven

That all sounds rather pithy when translated into English. But this is how it really looked.

"Liebes Fatherland, können Sie versichert sein
Ihrer Flotte im Hafen, sicher festgemacht"

Which makes me think those cabbage eating matelots need to brush up on their rhymes.

Comments

[Scott Wickstein]

Naval history blogging? Good work, Admiral T.

What other talents does this man possess?

[Tony.T]

Dunno about that, Wicky. I always liked the picture and thought it would look stupid sitting there with only the quote for company. So I knocked together a bit of school history.

[Dirk Thruster]

Looking at the original graffitti helped me realise why Rammstein suck. Germans are not good with words.

[Big Ramifications]

In 1898, when Otto Von Bismarck was an old man, a journalist asked him what he took to be the decisive factor in modern history. He answered: "The fact that the North Americans speak English".

http://www.litnet.co.za/taaldebat/netlan.asp

[Tony.T]

Observant guy, the Bizz.

Big, if you were in a band, would you could call it Rammstein. You could, if you wanted, sing in German, too.

Can you play guitar? Dirk will sing.

[Dave]

Thanks for that! Another thing to mock my German father-in-law about :-)

[Tony.T]

You shouldn't mock him directly, Dave, Germans are used to that. You should assist him to mock himself. They need a little help in that department.

[ed staines]

Jutland, eh. I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on the role of the Harwich destroyer force in WW1, so I read a fair bit about this. Beattie is also relevant to my current thesis because he became first lord of the Admiralty for much of the 1920s. Crazy drunken fool.

Anyway, surely the German translation of Fatherland is Vaterland?

Also, German graffiti is great: I remember a trip to Ravensburg (http://www.geocities.com/little_baby_nothing_msp/RAVENSBURG.html) in which I encountered the graffiti-d phrase "Satan rules". He certainly does.

[Brett Pee]

Speaking of Germans, what about Pommy Prince Harry wearing a Swastica and impersonating a German at a rage ? Marvellous. The English concerned are voicing their opinion on what kind of British Army Officer he would make after this- probably a good one !!! If he'd worn a Mussolini get up he could have entered the Pommie army as a Captain !! These Brits eh? I thought the whole of their royal family were German anyway.

[Big Ramifications]

My favorite graffiti was behind the jukebox at the Swanbourne Hotel:

"KENNY FUKS SPIDERS"

[sic]

[Tony.T]

Ed, I was goint to put in a little note asking someone to spot the intentional mistake. Seriously. But I figured, what the hell, this is the internet. Things like that ALWAYS get spotted and I wanted to see it that would.

It most definitely would be "Vaterland".

Ed Stains 10/10. Tick. VG.

There's also the not inconsiderable fact that I have never seen it written down in German. Only English. I translated it using my excellent schoolboy German.

Indeed, it may well have rhymed in the German vernacular. I was interested in whether, if it rhymed in English, would it also rhyme in German.

Brett: I remember Keith Moon didn't get in trouble for wearing an SS uniform. But he was a long way down the line of succession to the throne.

Big: I once say graffiti in Steves which read SHARON FUCKS WILDEBEESTE.

[Big Ramifications]

What a funny man you are, Tony. Did you say it to passers-by? Or did you walk up to people at the bar and say it? Did they offer to buy you a drink? Did you get some filthy looks from boyfriends?

[Tony.T]

Oops. That was supposed to be SAW. Say is stupid.

It was in the dunnies off the front bar.

[Ed Staines]

Achtung Tony. Your poetic German is worthy of Goethe. I am sorry for appearing picky :(

You'd have been handy in the Great War - one of the Germans captured by the Harwich force and interred in Ganges medical hospital (at Shotley - the village where I live, when not in London) spoke no English. He got so lonely he spilled loads of beans when a someone was found who could converse with him in his native tongue.

[Tony.T]

Ganges medical hospital?

Seems an odd name. How come they named it after a grubby Indian river?

[ed staines]

Ganges ("H.M.S. Ganges") was a naval training centre, as I've said it was used as a hospital in the war. I dunno why it was named Ganges. I'll have to ask my mum who's doing some research there.

A couple of years back they were going to turn it into a "refugee processing unit" (or whatever), until the locals attacked the council with burning staves and pitchforks.

[Tony.T]

I've always wanted to attack someone with burning staves and pitchforks. And rocks. It always looks like such fun.

[ed staines]

Well, if you're ever in Suffolk then please consider yourself a welcome guest on my humble farmstead. The local villagers are always having a good rant and burn about something. If you tire of this, we can always shoot the fuckers with 12 bores.

[Tony.T]

Thanks, Ed. I've never stayed in a farmstead. Do you make cider?

Tormenting disgruntled villagers is one of my two favourite past-times (two words?). Insulting lowly peasants, the other. Perhaps you can rustle up a few locals for convenient taunting.

[ed staines]

Yes! I could really market this "village experience" to unwitting foreign types.

We are from Suffolk, so we don't make cider (we leave that to the West Country yokels). We do however make a curious brew from the blood of slaughtered calves.

[Tony.T]

Yokels: I love yokels. Close to my most favourite word. And bumpkins. Or oafs. I can't decide.

Cow beer. Sounds about as appetizing as Weasel Coffee.

[E. David Litvak]

Two comments:

First the ditty "Liebes Fatherland Koennen sie versichert sein, etc." as someone already pointed out the German for fatherland is: Vaterland. However this tyme is written in the formal 'Sie.' I do believe that in this case the non-formal 'du' would be used as in: Liebes Vaterland kannst sicher sein, etc.

Regarding Prince Harry wearing the swastika with ‘in-your-face’ attitude, if his Royal Highness has any sense of what is proper and fitting, he should stand in front of the Cenotaph in Whitehall (which commemorates the dead of two world wars) and try to make amends to the more than 500,000 English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish (both Catholics and Protestants), Canadians (both English and French), Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans (both White and Black), Indians (Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs) who gave their lives for the House of Windsor fighting that emblem which Prince Harry so blithely wore.

[Tony.T]

Very true, David. But as I noted above, it was me did the translation and I don't know Das Vaterland well enough to be chummy.

Granted, that's how a German sailor might have written it. Sein still doesn't rhyme with festgemacht, though.

Maybe the Germans have a different sense of what constitutes poetic practice.

I've said before elsewhere. Harry wearing the Swastika doesn't particularly worry me here in Australia. I just think he needs to be careful what impression he gives out to other people who do care. Like you, for instance.