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Britain holds events marking naval engagement in WWI

Xinhua, May 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

Centenary commemorative events were held on Tuesday in Orkney in northeastern Britain to pay tribute to the thousands of sailors who died in a major naval engagement of World War I.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and German President Joachim Gauck attended the event at Kirkwall, along with the Princess Royal Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, representing the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, to remember the 8,648 sailors who lost their lives in the Battle of Jutland near the coast of Denmark on May 31 and June 1,1916.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also attended the event to remember the battle, which involved about 250 ships and saw the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, based at Scapa Flow in Orkney, clash with the German High Seas Fleet.

Islanders young and old crowded the pavements as the Royal Marines band led a naval contingent to the morning commemoration, local media reported.

Representatives of all the other nations connected to the battle, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Malta, New Zealand and South Africa, were present at the event.

Events continued with at Lyness Cemetery on the island of Hoy in Orkney, the final resting place for more than 450 service personnel who died in the war, including sailors killed at Jutland.

The Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, who is 95 years old on June 10, had also been due to go to Orkney, but pulled out following medical advice.

On Saturday, hundreds of people gathered to mark the centenary of the battle in Scotland's Rosyth and South Queensferry, which began a weekend of commemoration leading up to the exact anniversary dates. Enditem