The German plan to bombard Sunderland

With unrestricted economic submarine warfare temporarily constrained, German U-boats could watch British bases and thin any responding force. The First Scouting Group would bombard Sunderland, prompting British battlecruisers to pursue it toward Scheer's battle line. The plan made reasonable use of Germany's limited opportunities but had a basic problem: the British battlecruisers and Queen Elizabeth-class fast battleships could turn away faster than the German battle line could catch them. German intelligence also failed to appreciate that the Fifth Battle Squadron's Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were operating with Beatty, making the intended isolated target harder than expected. Destroying the British battlecruiser force would still have been a major success, but it would not erase Britain's much larger reserve of capital ships.