HMS Echo, a Royal Navy survey vessel that periodically undergoes refits at the docks, has used state-of-the-art sonar equipment to survey an area of the North Sea where the Battle of Jutland took place 99 years ago.

Scans of ships destroyed in the famous sea battle between the British and German fleets have been made for the first time using 21st Century technology.

The colourful three-dimensional images made by the Royal Navy survey ship show the horrors that played out on May 31, 1916 during the First World War

thebattle. what happened belie the horrors played out off the coast of Denmark, one Wednesday afternoon during the First World War.

Taking part in the action was HMS Falmouth, a Weymouth Class cruiser in Admiral Sir David Beatty’s battle cruiser fleet, which was one of the ships screening Beatty’s flagship HMS Lion.

On that fateful day, on May 31, 1916, 25 warships, 14 of them British were lost through enemy action, blew up and sank during what has been described as the greatest an

bloodiest sea battle ever. Three quarters of the 8,500 men who lost their lives were British. All told 8,500 men lost their lives, three quarters of them Britons.

The images obtained by HMS Echo show the twisted and battered wreck of the battle cruiser HMS Invincible that was lost when a German shell penetrated through the roof of Q turret. The resultant fire caused an explosion which took the lives of over 1,000 men when the ship sank.

A dozen miles from the wreck of HMS Echo is also surveyed the remains of cruiser HMS Defence, whose bow is separated from her hull, and the wreck of HMS Queen Mary which suffered the same fate as Invincible.

Echo visited the 21 of the 25 sites where Jutland wrecks are believed to be, based on previous expeditions, eyewitness accounts and contemporary charts, and found nine hulls positively identified as vessels lost in the battle.

All the data will be provided to the UK Hydrographic Office in Taunton to allow them to update maritime charts used by most of the world’s seafarers.

The week of surveying was also recorded by a film crew from True North Productions for a documentary to coincide with next year’s centenary.