35 Scheer performed a difficult maneuver that the fleet had
practiced for just the situation that existed at this time. He
wheeled his battleships simultaneously to starboard, forming line
again on a westerly course. Twenty minutes later, finding that he
was no longer under fire from the Grand Fleet, he repeated the
maneuver, the ships turning again to starboard and forming line
ahead again on an easterly, then southerly course. These changes of
course were made under cover of smoke screens and were not observed
by the British.

By this time the Grand Fleet had formed line of battle on a
southeasterly course and by 7.10 its leaders were concentrating
their fire on the head of the German line, which was now caught
under an overwhelming superiority of force. Unfortunately for the
Germans the visibility conditions at this time were worse for them
than for their enemy, for while the British ships were nearly or
quite invisible, the Germans every now and then stood silhouetted
against the western sky. The British fire at this time was heavy
and accurate. The German fleet seemed marked for destruction.

For Scheer it was now imperative to withdraw if he could. Accordingly
at this juncture he sent out a flotilla of destroyers in a desperate
effort to cover the retreat of his fleet. They fired a number of
torpedoes at the English battle line, and retired with the loss
of one boat. Their stroke succeeded, for Jellicoe turned his whole
line of battleships away to avoid the torpedoes. Beatty, holding
his course at the head of the line, signaled Admiral Jerram of
the _King George V_ to follow astern, but he was evidently bound
to the orders of his commander in chief. For the second time that
day Beatty was left unsupported in his fight at the head of the
line.

Meanwhile Scheer's capital ships had simultaneously wheeled away
in line to the westward under cover of the torpedo attacks and
smoke screens made by the destroyers. This was the third time within
an hour that they had effected this maneuver, and the skill with
which the battleships managed these turns in line under a rain of
fire speaks well for German seamanship. Meanwhile, to reenforce
the covering movement made by the destroyers, Scheer sent out his
battle cruisers in a sortie against Beatty, who was pressing hard
on the head of the German line. The following account from Commander
von Hase of the _Derfflinger_, which led this sortie, is interesting
not only for its