Jutland 1916, 16:09 Destroyer Action

Hipper continued south, leading the pursuant British Battle Cruiser Fleet into the path of Scheer’s far more powerful High Seas Fleet. In the meantime, the battleships of the 5th Battle Squadron had made significant ground on the rest of the British formation thanks to their superior speed. By 16:15 all four British battleships had advanced so that Hipper’s main force was within their range of fire. HMS Lion was forced to withdraw from the firing line after sustaining heavy damage, which meant that HMS Queen Mary was now taking hits from two enemy battle cruisers and she sank at 16:25. The German battle cruisers were firing upon their British counterparts with much greater accuracy whilst the destroyers engaged in a fierce battle in between. Only one destoryer’s torpedo was on target, hitting SMS Seydlitz. HMS Southampton made the first sighting of Scheer’s fleet to the south at 16:30 and Beatty gave the order to retreat north