ack. The Lion and the
Tiger opened fire upon them, and caused them to retire and resume their
original course.

"At 10.48 A. M. the Blucher, which had dropped considerably astern of
the enemy's line, hauled out to port, steering north with a heavy list,
on fire, and apparently in a defeated condition. I consequently ordered
the Indomitable to attack the enemy breaking northward. At 10.54
submarines were reported on the starboard bow, and I personally observed
the wash of a periscope. I immediately turned to port. At 10.03 an
injury to the Lion being reported as being incapable of immediate
repair, I directed the Lion to shape course northwest.

"At 11.20 I called the Attack alongside, shifting my flag to her, and
proceeded at utmost speed to rejoin the squadron. I met them at noon,
retiring north-northwest. I boarded and hoisted my flag on the Princess
Royal, when Captain Brock acquainted me with what had occurred since the
Lion fell out of line, namely, that the Blucher had been sunk and that
the enemy battle cruisers had continued their course to the eastward in
a considerably damaged condition. He also informed me that a Zeppelin
and a seaplane had endeavored to drop bombs on the vessels which went to
the rescue of the survivors of the Blucher."

It appears from this report that as soon as the Germans sighted the
British fleet they promptly turned around and fled to the southeast.
This flight, before they could have known the full British strength,
suggests that the German Admiral was hoping to lure the British vessels
into the Helgoland trap. The British gunnery was remarkably good, shot
after shot taking effect at a distance of ten miles, and that too when
moving at over thirty miles an hour. Over 120 of the crew of the Blucher
were rescued and more would have been rescued if it had not been for the
attack upon the rescue parties by the German aircraft. The injury to the
Lion was very unfortunate. Admiral Beatty handed over charge of the
battle cruisers to Rear-Admiral Moore, and when he was able to overtake
the squadron he found that under Admiral Moore's orders the British
fleet were retiring. The British squadron at the moment of turning was
seventy miles from Helgoland, and in no danger from its mine fields.
What might have been a crushing victory became therefore only a partial
one: the Germans lost the Blucher; the Derfflinger and the Seydlitz were
badly injured, but it seems that with a little more persi