The range was 14,000 yards and the enemy was getting heavily hit, while he was apparently not making many hits on the British ships. After 5, one of the German battle-cruisers--perhaps the _Lutzow_, which, according to the enemy, received 15 or 16 heavy shells--left the line damaged. At 5.10 the sixth ship in the German line--a Dreadnought--was reported to have been hit by a torpedo, and it is just possible that she sank, as a huge cloud of smoke and steam was seen just after where she had been. The Germans were now edging off to the E., learning either from Zeppelins or their light cruisers that the British Battle Fleet was coming up to the N.W. Admiral Beatty reports that “probably Zeppelins were present,” though they appear to have been seen only by neutrals in the first stage of the battle. The head of the German line at this part of the battle was getting severely punished, and a second of the German battle-cruisers had vanished, leaving only three enemy battle-cruisers in line. The first stage of the battle was over. Beatty had led the Germans to the British Battle Fleet, which was sighted at 5.56 10,000 yards away to the N. The position of the Fleet was as follows:--Beatty, with four battle-cruisers, and astern of him the four fast battleships of the Fifth Battle Squadron, was now turning sharply eastwards to pass across the head of the German Fleet and prevent it from edging E. and getting away in that direction. This movement of his would have enabled him to “cross the T” of the enemy’s line--_i.e._, to pass at right angles across it, raking the ships as he passed, which is regarded as the most advantageous position that can be obtained in battle--if the enemy had not turned. N. of Admiral Beatty’s ships was the British Battle Fleet, with three battle-cruisers under Hood on one wing, and three or four armoured cruisers under Arbuthnot on the other. On a line generally parallel to Beatty’s was the whole force of German battle-cruisers (3) and battleships (22), slightly astern of him, so that the German ships at the southern end of the line were out of the battle--too distant to fire. The head of the enemy line was some 12,000 yards from him, and about 22,000 yards from the British Battle Fleet.