Scheer chose the route toward Horns Reef and tried to bring the High Seas Fleet home through the night. The resulting encounters were confused rather than a controlled German or British night-fighting plan. Royal Navy destroyers and light cruisers in the Harwich Force, together with their German torpedo-boat counterparts near the Belgian and Dutch coast, had the most relevant routine experience. Most main-fleet crews had only manuals, drills, and perhaps a small number of realistic exercises. Claims that either battle fleet controlled the night action therefore overstate what its commanders and crews could actually see or coordinate.
Chapter · 1:14:17-1:16:52
Neither fleet controlled the night battle
Scheer escaped toward Horns Reef through a disordered night action in which only specialized light forces possessed regular nocturnal combat experience.