By this date a regular programme of dockings and refits for all ships was recognised as necessary, and battleships were now being detached one at a time for this purpose. For some months after the commencement of the War, it was not possible to allow ships more than four days for docking and for the execution of the most urgent work, except in cases of accident or very serious defects, as our margin of superiority was none too large, and we were already experiencing a good deal of trouble with condenser tubes, necessitating ships being laid up for the work of retubing; but the work achieved in the four days was a very fine tribute to the dockyard organisation and to the industry of the dockyard men. The Battle Fleet left Loch Ewe on the evening of September 17th, the _Erin_, a new battleship bought, incomplete, from Turkey, being in company for the first time in order to accustom her officers to working the ship with the Fleet. Target practice was carried out to the westward of the Orkneys during the forenoon of the 18th, but was interfered with by bad weather--a frequent experience. The Battle Fleet then proceeded into the North Sea, via the Fair Island Channel, the position at midnight, 18th, being Lat. 59.23 N., Long. 1.13 W., and course south. The 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron left Scapa with the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron on the evening of the 19th, and the 2nd Cruiser Squadron left Cromarty at the same time, all for the southward for a sweep into the Heligoland Bight, supported by the Battle Fleet, in search of the enemy and with a view to carrying out a thorough examination of trawlers suspected of acting as look-out vessels for the enemy. While on passage south during the 19th the Battle Fleet was exercised at battle tactics. At midnight on the 19th the Battle Fleet was in position Lat. 58.3 N., Long. 2.24 E., and at 8 A.M. on the 20th, in Lat. 57.8 N., Long. 3.20 E., having met the 2nd Cruiser Squadron. The 2nd Flotilla had been under orders to leave Scapa in time to meet the Battle Fleet at 8 A.M. on the 21st, but, owing to bad weather, the orders were cancelled and the flotilla returned to Scapa, as did the 4th Flotilla, which was to have accompanied the battle cruisers. During daylight of the 20th the Battle Fleet cruised towards the Norwegian coast to the northward of Lat. 57 N., in support of the battle cruisers engaged in examining trawlers in the vicinity of the Little Fisher Bank; it turned to the southward at 4 P.M. to rendezvous, at 5 A.M. on the 21st, in Lat. 56 N., Long. 3.30 E., with the 3rd Battle Squadron, which had been coaling at Scapa and had left on the 20th to join the Commander-in-Chief.