Jutland 1916, 21:00 Scheer Escapes

Scheer was faced with possible annihilation if he maintained his course southwest and the British remained within contact distance by the time daylight arrived. His only option was to return to base along the coast but the British fleet blocked his route to the east. Jellicoe was aware that Scheer would likely try to find his way back to port so continued south to cut off the route towards Wilhelmshaven whilst deploying a large screen of destroyers 5 miles (8 km) behind his battleships. Scheer opted to cross behind Jellicoe’s battleships on a course towards Horn’s Reef in Denmark. Again, a lack of communication between the British forces resulted in Scheer engaging and eventually bypassing the destroyer screen. None of the ships that were attacked or returned fire towards the Germans reported the information to Jellicoe. Lützow was scuttled at 01:45 on 1 June and the German High Seas Fleet had fully escaped by daybreak.