At a sufficient interval before it was considered that the torpedoes fired by the destroyers would cross our line, a signal was made to the Battle Fleet to turn two points to port by subdivisions. Some minutes later a report was made to me by Commander Bellairs (the officer on my Staff especially detailed for this duty and provided with an instrument for giving the necessary information) that this turn was insufficient to clear the torpedoes, as I had held on until the last moment; a further turn of two points was then made for a short time. As a result of this attack and another that followed immediately, some twenty or more torpedoes were observed to cross the track of the Battle Fleet, in spite of our turn, the large majority of them passing the ships of the 1st and 5th Battle Squadrons at the rear of the line. It was fortunate that, owing to the turn away of the Fleet, the torpedoes were apparently near the end of their run, and were consequently not running at high speed. They were all avoided by the very skilful handling of the ships by their captains, to whom the highest credit is due, not only for their skill in avoiding the torpedoes, but for the manner in which the ships, by neighbourly conduct towards each other, prevented risk of collision and kept their station in the line. The captains were most ably assisted by the admirable look-out kept by the organisation that existed for dealing with this danger. The skill shown could not, however, have prevented several ships from being torpedoed had the range been less and the torpedoes consequently running at a higher speed. Frequent exercises carried out at Scapa Flow showed conclusively that the percentage of torpedoes that would hit ships in a line when fired from destroyers at ranges up to 8,000 yards was comparatively high, even if the tracks were seen and the ships were manœuvred to avoid them. One very good reason is that torpedoes are always a considerable but varying distance ahead of the line of bubbles marking their track, making it difficult to judge the position of the torpedo from its track. Many ships experienced escapes from this and other attacks; thus the _Hercules_ reported that she “turned away six points to avoid the torpedoes, one of which passed along the starboard side and 40 yards across the bow, and the other passed close under the stern”; the _Neptune_ reported that “the tracks of three torpedoes were seen from the fore-top, one of which passed very close and was avoided by the use of the helm”; in the _Agincourt’s_ report, a statement occurred that “at 7.8 P.M. a torpedo just missed astern, it having been reported from aloft and course altered”; and again, “at 7.38 P.M. tracks of two torpedoes running parallel were observed approaching; course altered to avoid torpedoes which passed ahead; and at 8.25 P.M. torpedo track on starboard side, turned at full speed; torpedo broke surface at about 150 yards on the starboard bow”; the _Revenge_ remarked, “at 7.35 P.M.