At this period the rear of our battle line was still in action at intervals with one or two ships of the enemy’s fleet, which were probably some that had dropped astern partially disabled, but by 7.55 P.M. fire had practically ceased.
At about 7.40 P.M. I received a report from Sir David Beatty stating that the enemy bore north-west by west from the Lion, distant 10 to 11 miles, and that the Lion’s course was south-west. Although the battle cruisers were not in sight from the Iron Duke, I assumed the Lion to be five or six miles ahead of the van of the Battle Fleet, but it appeared later from a report received in reply to directions signalled by me at 8.10 P.M. to the King George V. to follow the battle cruisers, that they were not in sight from that ship either.
At this time the enemy’s Battle Fleet seems to have become divided, for whilst Sir David Beatty reported the presence of battleships north-west by west from the Lion, other enemy battleships were observed to the westward (that is, on the starboard bow of the Iron Duke), and the course of the Fleet was at once altered “by divisions” to west in order to close the enemy; this alteration was made at 7.59 P.M.
It will be observed that all the large alterations of course of the Battle Fleet during the engagement were made “by divisions” instead of “in succession from the van, or together.” The reason was that in this way the whole Fleet could be brought closer to the enemy with far greater rapidity, and in a more ordered formation, than if the movement had been carried out by the line “in succession.”
The objection to altering by turning all ships together was the inevitable confusion that would have ensued as the result of such a manœuvre carried out with a very large Fleet under action conditions in misty weather, particularly if the ships were thus kept on a line of bearing for a long period.
The battleships sighted at 7.59 P.M. opened fire on the ships of the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron, which had moved out to starboard of the battle line to engage a flotilla of enemy destroyers which were steering to attack the Battle Fleet. The Calliope, the flagship of Commodore Le Mesurier, was hit by a heavy shell and received some damage, but retained her fighting efficiency, and fired a torpedo at the leading battleship at a range of 6,500 yards; an explosion was noticed on board a ship of the “Kaiser” class by the Calliope.[M] The ships sighted turned away and touch could not be regained, although sounds of gunfire could be heard from ahead at 8.25 P.M., probably from our battle cruisers, which obtained touch with and engaged some of the enemy’s ships very effectively between 8.22 and 8.25 P.M. The Falmouth was the last ship of the Battle Cruiser Fleet to be in touch with the enemy, at 8.38 P.M.; the ships then in sight turned eight points together away from the Falmouth.
[M] All our battle cruisers felt this heavy explosion which was clearly concussion under water, and may have been caused by the Calliope’s torpedo obtaining a hit.
At 8.30 P.M. the light was failing and the Fleet was turned “by divisions” to a south-west course, thus reforming single line again.
During the proceedings of the Battle Fleet described above, the battle cruisers were in action ahead as mentioned in Sir David Beatty’s report in the Appendix.
At first, touch with the enemy was lost owing to the large alterations of course carried out by the High Sea Fleet, but it was regained at 7.12 P.M., the battle cruisers opening fire at 7.14 P.M., though only for two and a half minutes, and increasing speed to 22 knots. At this period the battle cruisers were steering south-west by south to south-west, and this course took them from the port to the starboard bow of the Battle Fleet by 7.12 P.M. The movements of our battle cruisers, which were at this time between four and five miles ahead of the van of the Battle Fleet, could not be distinguished, owing, partly, to the funnel and cordite smoke from the battle cruisers themselves, but even more to the funnel smoke from the numerous cruisers, light cruisers and destroyers which were attempting to gain their positions ahead of the van.