fe in port. Some of the lighter ships, to escape the
assaults of the British destroyers during the night, headed north
and got home by way of the Skagerrak and the Kiel Canal.

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 13,350 "

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 "