In response to a general signal the huge warships turned eight points to starboard. That meant that instead of keeping broadside on to the forts they were steaming away from them. Hampered by their torpedo nets the manoeuvre was slowly executed, but each warship now presented a much smaller target to the German torpedoes, while there was more room between the battleships for the British destroyers to operate.
Temporarily the big-gun fire ceased. The sharp barks of the quick-firers resounded on all sides. Through the maelstrom of twelve-pounder shells the German destroyers tore. Several swung out of line, disabled and on the point of sinking; but the surviving vessels, admirably handled, avoided their stricken consorts and continued the headlong rush.
Then, acting smartly in response to a signal from the leading boat, the remaining destroyers ported helm sufficiently for the deck torpedo tubes to bear, and almost simultaneously thirty deadly Schwartz-Kopff weapons tore on their mission of destruction.
It was impossible for everyone to miss the mark. The sea was ruffled with the foam of the swiftly-travelling weapons. Some, exploding the nets, tore great rents in the meshes and unshipped or shattered the massive steel booms supporting the best anti-torpedo device that naval architects could devise. Others, following in their wake, struck home underneath the armoured plating of the battleships.
Explosion after explosion, outvieing the crack of the quick-firers, rose in the air. Huge vessels, mortally stricken, rolled sluggishly under the impact. Mingled with the din came the cheers of the exultant Germans. It was a modernized form of the old gladiatorial shout: "Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute thee"; for the cheers were those of doomed men.
Tearing betwixt the battleships came the British destroyers like wolves upon a sheepfold. This phase of action became a mêlée. In several cases the British craft, charging their opponents at full speed, literally cut these latter in twain. It was but another of those instances when, in the heat of battle, men neither ask nor expect quarter. Only four German boats, badly damaged, were able to regain a temporary and insecure shelter under the lee of Sandinsel.
Nevertheless they had struck a hard blow. The Bellerophon, hit thrice in quick succession, had sunk; the Ajax and Agamemnon were listing heavily, only their watertight bulkheads abaft the engine-rooms preventing them from going to the bottom. For offensive purposes they were now utterly useless. The Centurion and Formidable, having lost their rudders and propellers, had to be taken in tow, and sent, escorted by the battle cruisers Impregnable and Inflexible, to add to the congested state of the British dockyards.
Nothing daunted by these misfortunes the rest of the allied fleet maintained a hot fire. By five in the afternoon the east of the batteries of Sandinsel ceased to reply. The docks, factories and stores, and shipping on the east of Heligoland were either destroyed or in flames. The attack upon the island could now be pushed home.
Contrary to expectations the Zeppelins made no attempt to emerge from their place of concealment. It afterwards transpired that, more by accident than design, two heavy shells had simultaneously burst in the great artificial crater into which the airship sheds opened. The explosions were sufficient to wreck completely the three Zeppelins lying in the lofty caves.
As night fell the battleships made for the offing, while the British destroyers and light cruisers took the same precautions against attack as before.