The German battlecruisers were on their way home after bombarding Tynemouth and Hartlepool when they were spotted by the British battlecruisers who gave chase. The Germans speeded up to 23kt which was the maximum that the Blucher could achieve but this was less than the British could achieve and so the British gained on the fleeing German ships. The last in the German line was Blucher whose 8.4" guns were outranged by the British 13.5" guns and so she was unable to return fire for 20 minutes and during this time she had been hard hit and two very damaging hits had silenced 10 of her main guns and reduced her maximum speed to 17kt. By this time all the ships were in range of each other and both Lion and Seydlitz had been badly damaged. A badly worded signal from Lion resulted in the British turning away to finish off Blucher and the rest of the German ships escaped while Blucher was silenced, stopped and, eventually, sunk. A couple of British Destroyers put down boats but claimed that they were attacked by the Zeppelin L3 and they abandonned the rescue. Lion was towed by Indomitable to Palmers yard at Jarrow for repairs.