From the outset it had been evident that the enemy did not mean to engage, and that, if he were to be brought to action, it would only be after a chase; and, although as a squadron we had the advantage in speed, our superiority was not very great. Nor was Admiral Beatty's problem in any other respect so simple as had been Sir Doveton Sturdee's. Not only had Admiral Beatty always to bear in mind {92} that he might be being led into some recently laid minefield, but he knew that with every hour he would be nearly forty miles nearer to the heavily guarded waters on the other side. Moreover, he had at all times to be prepared for a torpedo-attack from the accompanying fleet of enemy destroyers, while it was practically certain that, before the action ended, he would find himself in the presence of hostile submarines. He was further at a disadvantage in that, though he was stronger in gun power, he was forced to rely upon bow fire only, and this while travelling at full speed. That meant that, for the greater part of the action, his leading battle-cruisers, the _Lion_, _Tiger_, and _Princess Royal_ could only bring to bear four of their 13.5-inch guns, while the _Seydlitz_ and _Moltke_, firing astern, could each use eight of their 11-inch guns, the _Derfflinger_ four of her 12-inch guns, and the _Blücher_ six of her 8.2's. It became a matter of margins, therefore--and not very extensive ones--both in speed and range, and of the British capacity to use these in the limited time before the German cruisers could reach their own waters. Some idea of what this meant can best be gathered, perhaps, from the fact that, though travelling at thirty knots, it was almost an hour and a half--during which time more than fifty miles of sea had been covered--before the fourteen miles that separated the two squadrons had been reduced to ten. This was just before nine o'clock, the enemy being still on Admiral Beatty's port bow, his light cruisers ahead, followed by the _Derfflinger_, _Moltke_, _Seydlitz_, and _Blücher_ in single line, with a large number of {93} destroyers on their starboard beam. Leading in the _Lion_, Sir David Beatty was followed by the _Tiger_, the _Princess Royal_, and the _New Zealand_, the latter and the _Indomitable_--both slower vessels--having broken all records, thanks to their engine-room staffs.