The Germans on this occasion had arranged a trap.  They knew that after making two successful raids on the English coast the British would keep even a closer watch for them.  When they sailed from their base, it was with the expectation of meeting a hostile force, as was undoubtedly their expectation on the first two raids.  But they did not intend to fight matters out on high waters.  What they wanted to do was to get the British involved in a good running engagement, steering a southeasterly course the while and luring the British ships within striking force of a waiting fleet of superdreadnoughts and perhaps land guns and mines.  This explains why Admiral Hipper turned stern as soon as he got into touch with the enemy.

There was a distance of fourteen miles between the two fleets when the Lion got her heavy guns into action.  The German line was off her port (left) bow.  At the head of that line was the Moltke, and following her came the Seydlitz, Derfflinger, Bluecher, and the destroyers in the order given.  At the head of the British line was the Lion, followed by the Tiger, Princess Royal, New Zealand, and Indomitable in the order named.  The other cruisers and the destroyers of the British fleet brought up the rear.  In the chase which followed the Germans were handicapped by the fact that the Bluecher was far too slow to be brought into action, which meant that either the other ships must leave her behind to certain destruction or that they must slow down to keep with her.  They chose the latter course, while her stokers did their best to increase her speed.  In the English fleet there was the same trouble with the Indomitable, but inasmuch as the British were the pursuers and had a preponderance in ships and in the range of their guns, this did not matter so much to them.  But the stokers of the Indomitable worked as hard, if not harder, than those of the Bluecher.

By half past nine the two forces were seven miles apart and the battle was on.  It is necessary here to give certain facts about gunnery on a large modern battleship.  Firing at a range of seven miles means a test of mathematics rather than of the mere matter of pointing guns.  At that distance the target—­the ship to be hit—­is barely visible on the sky line on the clearest and calmest sea.  If a hole the size of the head of a pin be made in a piece of cardboard and the latter he held about a foot and a half from the eye, the distant ship will just about fill the hole.

The guns on the modern battleships are not “laid”; that is, they are not aimed as were the cannon of past days or the rifle of today.  It is set toward its target by two factors.  The first is known as “traverse,” which means how far to the left or right it must be pointed in a horizontal plane.  The second factor is “elevation”—­how far up or down it must be pointed in a vertical plane.  The latter factor determines how far it will throw