Chapter Eighty-Five: Abrupt End

September 9th, just past four in the afternoon, Raeder was the first to rendezvous with Hipper.

The Moltke had suffered severe damage, so during the retreat Raeder transferred to the Dessalitz. After joining Hipper's main fleet, Raeder proceeded to the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, the King, to report to Hipper the details of their engagement with the Grand Fleet.

By then, the British cruisers tailing Raeder had already been driven off.

Raeder emphasized that Jellicoe's main fleet was likely already present, though they had not encountered them, making it impossible to determine Jellicoe's whereabouts. This clearly posed a dilemma for von Chengqian and Hipper.

Only one thing was certain: Beatty's battlecruiser squadron had lost its combat capability. Even if the Queen Mary and Indefatigable had not been sunk, they could no longer fight. Based on earlier intelligence, Jellicoe should have seventeen battleships at his command.

Therefore, von Chengqian, Hipper, and Raeder all advocated for a decisive battle with Jellicoe.

Of course, there was a prerequisite: Jellicoe had to be willing to engage in battle.

After discussing their plans, Hipper instructed Raeder to return to the Dessalitz, first arranging for the Moltke and Von der Tann to withdraw to Wilhelmshaven, then leading six battlecruisers on a reconnaissance mission to search for the Grand Fleet, which was likely still near the Shetland Islands.

Hipper made it clear: Raeder was only to search for the Grand Fleet, not to engage them.

Once Raeder departed, Hipper led the main fleet in pursuit.

Fleet tactics were relatively straightforward: Raeder would be at the forefront, while Hipper followed forty nautical miles behind, ready to catch up quickly once Raeder located Jellicoe. Although the battleships of the Grand Fleet generally possessed higher speeds, several were slower—particularly the three Bellerophon-class and three St. Vincent-class, whose maximum speed was less than twenty-one knots, slightly slower even than the slowest battleships of the High Seas Fleet. The speed of a fleet is not determined by its fastest ship but by its slowest. If the High Seas Fleet managed to pin them down, Jellicoe would have to fight unless he was willing to abandon his six slower battleships.

Would Jellicoe abandon the six slower battleships?

The answer was clearly no.

Even with Beatty fresh from defeat, having lost the Indefatigable and Invincible, Jellicoe would not forsake six battleships—not even if there were no losses at all.

If the Royal Navy lost six battleships, it would forfeit its numerical superiority.

Hipper and von Chengqian both believed that as long as Raeder pinned down Jellicoe, a decisive battle would erupt, and the High Seas Fleet would have the upper hand.

The crucial point was that Raeder had to find Jellicoe.

And therein lay the challenge.

Although Hipper and von Chengqian did not reproach Raeder, they both knew that Raeder had made a mistake during the retreat: he had not sent out light cruisers to search for Jellicoe. Strictly speaking, it was not entirely his fault, as Raeder had very few light cruisers at his disposal. More importantly, at that time, the Royal Navy's light cruisers were pursuing Raeder, and he had to prioritize his own safety.

Clearly, finding Jellicoe would not be easy.

In an era sorely lacking in reconnaissance capabilities, searching for a fleet roaming the vast ocean was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Fortunately, the Grand Fleet was not entirely untraceable.

Based on previous engagements, the Grand Fleet had two options: remain near the Shetland Islands, awaiting a decisive battle with the High Seas Fleet; or cover the withdrawal of damaged ships southward, avoiding battle with the High Seas Fleet. Hipper and von Chengqian felt the latter was more probable.

As long as Jellicoe commanded only seventeen battleships, he would not risk a decisive battle with the High Seas Fleet.

However, Jellicoe also had reason to remain near the Shetland Islands.

The most crucial reason: Jellicoe did not know the High Seas Fleet had entered the North Sea, and his mission in leading the Grand Fleet north was to defend the Shetland Islands. Jellicoe, as fleet commander, was certainly a goal-oriented officer. Unless he could confirm the enemy’s presence, he would not easily abandon his objective. Thus, Jellicoe might simply allow Beatty to retreat, while he remained near the Shetland Islands.

This was the basic assessment for further operations.

Only if this judgment held would there be a battle to fight. Should Jellicoe lead the Grand Fleet south back to Portsmouth, even a full-speed pursuit by the High Seas Fleet might not catch up.

It should not be forgotten that by the time Raeder and Hipper joined forces, they had already sailed east for nearly three hours.

In other words, if Jellicoe had already reached the vicinity of the Shetland Islands and had not pursued Raeder, the distance between him and Hipper was over a hundred nautical miles. With a speed difference of one knot, it would take roughly four days to catch up—by which time Jellicoe would have returned to Portsmouth.

The problem was, Hipper and von Chengqian's assessment was not entirely accurate.

At that moment, Jellicoe was indeed behind Raeder, pursuing at twenty knots. However, about an hour before Raeder and Hipper met, Jellicoe ceased his pursuit, ordered a one hundred eighty degree turn, and led the Grand Fleet back.

Why did Jellicoe abandon the chase? No one could say for certain.

Given the circumstances, Jellicoe's greatest concern was the whereabouts of the High Seas Fleet.

Though intelligence suggested the High Seas Fleet had headed for the Gulf of Finland and that the Russian Baltic Fleet was holed up in port, making it unlikely for the High Seas Fleet to break free quickly, Jellicoe was more inclined to believe that Raeder’s assertive actions in the North Sea were closely linked to support from the High Seas Fleet.

Thus, Jellicoe concluded that Raeder’s retreat must serve a greater purpose.

A moment’s reflection led Jellicoe to suspect that the High Seas Fleet had already entered the North Sea, perhaps arriving imminently; otherwise, Raeder would not have retreated before encountering the Grand Fleet, nor would he have passed up the chance to finish off Beatty’s crippled battlecruisers.

This concern prompted Jellicoe to decide on a withdrawal.

But a new problem arose.

When Jellicoe decided to withdraw, the light cruisers he had sent out were driven off by Raeder, leaving him unaware of Raeder’s situation.

At the time, Jellicoe could only assume that Raeder would head east, then turn south once he was certain the Grand Fleet was no longer in pursuit.

In other words, Jellicoe did not know that Hipper’s main fleet had already arrived.

As a result, at this crucial moment, the Grand Fleet’s withdrawal speed was not twenty knots, but fourteen. The main culprit was the three Bellerophon-class battleships, which had not undergone planned overhauls; their boilers and engines were in poor condition, and after hours of full-speed sailing, they could no longer maintain maximum speed.

Jellicoe’s indecisive actions—neither fully committed to battle nor to retreat—meant that he was bound to encounter the returning Raeder.

However, when the two fleets met again, it was already night.

To Jellicoe, darkness was the best cover.

Shortly after nightfall, the light cruiser Karlsruhe, dispatched by Raeder, spotted Jellicoe, but failed to identify the British ships in the darkness and lost track of them half an hour later. Two hours afterward, Karlsruhe’s sister ship Rostock encountered Jellicoe again. Unfortunately, the lookout mistook the flashes of gunfire for a light cruiser, failing to recognize that battleships were firing their secondary batteries.

According to later accounts, chaos reigned on Jellicoe’s side as well.

Repeated encounters with German ships left the Grand Fleet uneasy. When Rostock found them, two battleships mistook nearby friendly ships for Germans and fired their secondary guns at them. Rostock’s lookout saw the flashes from these guns, which led him to think he was watching light cruisers.

That night, neither side found peace.

But the decisive battle did not erupt.

The largest engagement occurred around three in the morning, when a British light cruiser on reconnaissance inadvertently entered Raeder’s main formation. Initially, several battlecruisers mistook it for a returning friendly ship. Amusingly, the British ship also failed to realize it was close to German ships. Once the German lookouts reacted, the battle began. After being shelled by several capital ships, the British cruiser accelerated to escape, but it was too late. Struck by several heavy shells, the ship—named Southampton—sank in less than two minutes, with only four of its more than four hundred crew surviving.

The Southampton was the last warship sunk in this naval battle.

Before dawn, Jellicoe ordered a full-speed withdrawal.

Given the lack of safety—Southampton, for example, could have launched a torpedo attack under cover of darkness—Hipper also ordered a retreat before daylight. More importantly, after an entire night without finding Jellicoe, Hipper concluded that the Grand Fleet had already moved south.

On the morning of September 10th, the Battle of the Shetland Islands officially ended.

For the German Second Empire, it was a precious victory. Previously, no one believed the German Empire could challenge Britain’s maritime supremacy. After this, few would doubt that Germany had become a true sea power.

In this battle, the Imperial Navy achieved not just a tactical victory, but also a strategic one.

It was the first time since the Battle of Trafalgar, when Britain claimed the throne of sea dominance, that it suffered a disastrous defeat on the ocean battlefield.

For Britain, the greatest problem was not tactical defeat, but the grave consequences of strategic failure.