Jutland 1916, 17:30 The Arrival of the Grand Fleet

The scouts of the Grand Fleet under Rear-Admiral Hood made first contact with the Germans scouts moving north when HMS Chester began taking fire at 17:38. Chester sustained heavy fire until Hood was able to move his heavier ships southwest to provide support. The direction of attack of Hood’s ships from the northeast led the German scout force under Rear-Admiral Boedicker to incorrectly assume that a larger British force was also approaching from that direction. Consequently, Boedicker turned his ships towards the protection of Hipper and Scheer and SMS Wiesbaden was disabled in the process. Beatty, who had re-engaged Hipper’s battle cruisers, was sighted by Jellicoe at the head of the Grand Fleet at around 18:00. Jellicoe was unable to make visual contact with Scheer’s force, and with no communication from Beatty and various contradictory reports from other British ships, was forced to commit to his next move in blind faith.