Sunken Wrecks Of Epic WWI Naval Battle Revealed

3D scans of ships sunk during the First World War's largest naval battle have been produced after a Royal Navy ship scoured the bottom of the North Sea.

They show the battered wrecks of several of the 25 warships - 14 of them British - that were blown up during the Battle of Jutland on 31 May, 1916.

Among them is HMS Invincible which was torn apart by a German shell, killing more than 1,000 sailors. HMS Defence and HMS Queen Mary were also scanned during the survey.

Historian Nick Hewitt said the work at the site had help "build a picture of one of the greatest naval battles in history".

"The condition of the wrecks varies enormously. Some have suffered badly from post-war attempts to salvage them, but others are astonishingly intact," he said.

"HMS Defence in particular was 'reduced to atoms' according to one contemporary account, but the wreck was complete, upright and immediately recognisable by the distinctive profile of her secondary armament, still trained outboard towards her foes a century after the battle."

HMS Echo used information from previous expeditions and eyewitness accounts to visit 21 of the 25 sites where Jutland wrecks are believed to be.

They found nine vessels which were lost in the battle.

At the end of the wreck surveying, the ship's company held a service of remembrance before throwing a wreath into the North Sea in memory of the British and German dead.

The World War One battle was fought near the coast of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula between the United Kingdom and Germany.

It was the only full-scale clash of battleships in the war.

The UK saw 6,094 killed, while Germany lost 2,551. Both sides claimed victory.