Jellicoe had avoided a night pursuit for the sake of fighting on better terms the next morning, but at dawn he found his destroyers scattered far and wide. Judging it unwise to pursue the High Seas Fleet without a screening force, and discovering by directional wireless that it was already south of Horn Reef and in the neighborhood of the mine fields, he gave up the idea of renewing the engagement and turned north. He spent the forenoon in sweeping the scene of the previous day's fighting, collecting his dispersed units, and then returned to his bases.
The claim of victory, which was promptly and loudly made by the German press, is absurd enough. After the Grand Fleet arrived there could be only one thought for the Germans and that was a fighting retreat. Nevertheless, they had every reason to be proud of what they had done. They had met a force superior by a ratio of about 8 to 5 and had escaped after inflicting nearly twice as much damage as they had sustained. These losses may be compared by means of the following table[1]:
| BRITISH, | Three Battle Cruisers, | QUEEN MARY | 26,350 | tons |
| INDEFATIGABLE | 18,800 | " | ||
| INVINCIBLE | 17,250 | " | ||
| Three Armored Cruisers, | DEFENSE | 14,600 | " | |
| WARRIOR | 13,550 | " | ||
| BLACK PRINCE | 13,550 | " | ||
| Eight Destroyers, | TIPPERARY | 1,430 | " | |
| NESTOR | 890 | " | ||
| NOMAD | 890 | " | ||
| TURBULENT | 1,100 | " | ||
| FORTUNE | 965 | " | ||
| ARDENT | 935 | " | ||
| SHARK | 935 | " | ||
| SPARROWHAWK | 935 | " | ||
| Total | 111,980 | tons | ||
| GERMANS, | One Battle Cruiser | LUETZOW | 26,180 | tons |
| One Pre-dreadnought, | POMMERN | 13,200 | " | |
| Four Light Cruisers, | WIESBADEN | 5,400 | " | |
| ELBING | 4,500 | " | ||
| ROSTOCK | 4,900 | " | ||
| FRAUENLOB | 2,700 | " | ||
| Five Destroyers, | V-4 | 570 | " | |
| V-48 | 750 | " | ||
| V-27 | 640 | " | ||
| V-29 | 640 | " | ||
| S-33 | 700 | " | ||
| Total | 60,180 | tons | ||
Personnel, killed and wounded: BRITISH, about 6,600: GERMANS, 3,076.
[Footnote 1: Figures in these tables taken from Lieut. Comdr. H. H. Frost, U. S. N., U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Jan., 1920, p. 84.]
With all allowance for the poor visibility conditions and the deepening twilight, it must be admitted also that Scheer handled his ships with great skill. Caught in a noose by an overwhelming force, he disentangled himself by means of the torpedo attacks of his destroyer flotillas and turned away under cover of their smoke screens. After nightfall he boldly cut through the rear of the British fleet in battle line, and reached his base in safety with the great bulk of his ships. Meanwhile at practically all stages of the fighting German gunnery was both rapid and accurate, the seamanship was admirable, and there was no lack of courage of the highest order.
As to material, Admiral Jellicoe notes the superiority of the German fleet in range-finding devices, searchlights, smoke screens, a star shell—unknown to the British and invaluable for night fighting—and in the armor piercing quality of the shells. Moreover the Germans were completely equipped with systems of director firing, while the British were not. According to Admiral Sir Percy Scott,[1] "at the Battle of Jutland ... the commander in chief had only six ships of his fleet completely fitted with director firing ... he had not a single cruiser in the fleet fitted for director firing."
[Footnote 1: Fifty Years in the Royal Navy, p. 278.]
The greatest superiority of all probably lay in the structural features of the newer German ships. For some years prior to the war Admiral von Tirpitz had devoted himself to the problem of under water protection, to localize the effect of torpedo and mine on the hull of a ship. To quote the words of von Tirpitz:[2]
[Footnote 2: My Memoirs, Vol. I, p. 171.]