A traditional Maori skirt which was worn by the captain of HMS New Zealand during the Battle of Jutland has been lent for a major exhibition at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.

The exhibition 36 Hours: Jutland 1916 at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is to mark the centenary of the largest naval battle in history.

Nearly 9,000 lives were lost in the 1916 battle in the North Sea which lastedjust 36 hours but helped change the course of the First World War.

The piupiu skirt, which was considered an item of good luck, was originallygifted to Captain Lionel Halsey, commanding officer of the battleship HMS New Zealand, during the ship's visit to its namesake country in 1913.

The government and people of New Zealand paid for the battlecruiser and several New Zealanders served on board during the 1916 battle.

In May 1915, Halsey was promoted and appointed to another ship but he passed the piupiu skirt to his successor, Captain JFE Green, who having been told of the Maori chief's request, did actually wear it during the Battle of Jutland on May 31 1916.

The piupiu was later returned to Halsey who went on to lend it to the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy to be displayed in the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition in Wellington, 1940.

Upon his death in 1949, Halsey left the skirt to his youngest daughter Ruth.

Lord Mountbatten tried hard to get hold of the Maori skirt when my father died, but my sister was having none of that. Ruth's sister, Mrs Joan Wood

As Ruth Halsey's wish was for the piupiu to return to New Zealand, after she died in April 2002 her nephew [Halsey's grandson] John Wood offered it to the Navy Museum which has loaned it for the exhibition.

A telescope which saved the life of a naval officer at the Battle of Jutland who went on to become the Admiral of the Fleet will also be among artefacts on display.

Lieutenant Rhoderick McGrigor served aboard the battleship HMS Malaya during the battle.

Jock McGrigor holding the telescope which saved life of his father Lieutenant Rhoderick Credit: PA

He went on to become First Sea Lord and to attain the highest rank in the Royal Navy in 1953, following on from the Duke of Edinburgh to achieve the title Admiral of the Fleet.

His adopted son, Jock McGrigor, has loaned to the NMRN the personal telescope of his father, which was damaged by a piece of shrapnel, as he carried it under his arm aboard the Malaya.

The dent caused by the shrapnel can be seen in the telescope alongside where McGrigor had engraved his name in it.