Wireman on a battlecruiser at Jutland

[Stansman]

Hi, a friend of mine has just obtained a medal to a Wireman 2nd class who was killed when his ship, a battlecruiser was sunk at Jutland. I understand a Wireman is a ships Electrician and I was curious to know where on board he most likely would have have been stationed during the battle, my guess would be the engine room but any more accurate information would be much appreciated!

Regards

Stan

[David B]

Guess he could be just anywhere where there electrical circuits like power generation equipment where ever that is situated,

manning electrical switchboards ready to change over circuits if and when they may be damaged in order to maintain power

to all the ships operational equipment, could be in a damage control party, ready to provide emergency wiring if any circuits

were knocked out etc.

David

[Stansman]

Thanks David, I hadn't considered him as possibly being part of a damage control party.

Regards Stan

[melliget]

All ratings had a station or place of duty when the ship was in normal operations and another, an action station, where they went when the ship prepared to engage the enemy in battle (for some, it may have been the same place). David's guess that his action station may have been somewhere near the power equipment and the switchboards could be right. But just where that is on the battlescruiser in question, it may be difficult to find out. There might have been a number of alternative locations for certain types of ratings.

[Stansman]

Thanks for that, I thought that knowing where the man was stationed on the ship might give me an idea of his experiences during the battle before he and his ship met their sad end.

Stan