The fate of the Goethe was sealed from the first. Although she was the biggest of the German ships, she was at the same time the slowest, and she had been left behind to bear her own burden unhelped.
The guns of ship after ship had been turned upon her with terrible effect. Shells had been poured upon her from all quarters, spreading devastation on board and death amongst her crew. It was only the great strength of her armoured belt which enabled her for so long to withstand the battering she received from the British heavy guns, and still to keep afloat.
Her upper works were smashed out of all semblance to the fittings of a ship. Amidships, she was a raging furnace; yet she still floated on an even keel, sinking very slowly, while from her bent and shattered mast her flag bravely fluttered.
The Dauntless approached her, circling round. From his post in the fire-control, Rodney Redisham could see the men crowded on the doomed battleship's after-decks. They were waiting for the expected end, all wearing lifebelts. Then, as the Dauntless came abreast of her, a torpedo was fired. It crashed through the thick plates amidships.
The Goethe shuddered, and heeled over until her decks were almost awash. There was a sudden roar as she turned on her side. Then with a plunge she went to the bottom.
This was the end of the great battle, and the British light cruisers and destroyers devoted themselves to the work of picking up survivors.
They were thus occupied when a huge airship and a number of aeroplanes came out from Heligoland. Avoiding the battleships and cruisers, which might have turned their guns upon them, the aircraft made for the destroyers and attacked them by dropping bombs into their midst. The work of rescue could not be continued under such an attack, and the destroyers scattered, each with its party of rescued Germans.
None of the British ships had been damaged beyond repair, and the number of casualties was very small. An officer and fourteen men had been killed, and three officers and about thirty men were wounded. Greater speed, greater weight and range of guns, and better marksmanship had told in favour of the British.
The Germans, indeed, had received a very sound and thorough whipping in punishment for their attempt to rush over to England and bombard undefended towns. But more than all they received a proof of Great Britain's invincible power upon the seas.
It was not until many days afterwards that Max Hilliger again met his uncle in one of the corridors of the German naval headquarters in Wilhelmshaven.