Why deployment depended on repeated reports

Jellicoe wanted to deploy outside 15,000 yards so the Grand Fleet could exploit its gunnery advantage without immediately entering the Germans' stronger torpedo envelope. Doing that required both an enemy bearing and sufficiently accurate positions for the reporting ship and Iron Duke. In poor visibility, dead reckoning, ciphering, and signaling errors compounded one another, so several reports were needed to cancel out individual mistakes. Southampton sent four messages, Champion supplied obviously inaccurate information, and Lion's report had to pass through Princess Royal after Lion's wireless was damaged. The relay delayed and altered Lion's message, while wider position errors made the enemy appear on the starboard bow earlier than expected. Repeated, reliable reports were therefore a prerequisite for deployment rather than a clerical detail.