conning tower but instead of penetrating, the shell ricocheted off and detonated some 50 yards past the ship. Rear Admiral Behncke was injured, though he remained in command of the ship. The ship was then obscured by smoke that granted a temporary reprieve. By 20:00, the German line was ordered to turn westward to disengage from the British fleet. König, at the head, completed her turn and then reduced speed to allow the vessels behind her to return to formation. Shortly thereafter, four British light cruisers resumed the attacks on the crippled Wiesbaden; the leading German battleships, including König, opened fire on the cruisers in an attempt to drive them off. The pursuing British battleships had by this time turned further south and nearly managed to "cross the T" of the German line. To rectify this situation, Admiral Scheer ordered a 16-point turn south and sent Hipper's battlecruisers on a charge toward the British fleet. During the turn, König was struck by a 13.5-inch shell from Iron Duke; the shell hit the ship just aft of the rearmost gun turret. König suffered significant structural damage, and several rooms were filled with smoke. During the turn to starboard, Vice Admiral Schmidt, the commander of I Battle Squadron, decided to turn his ships immediately, instead of following the leading ships in succession. This caused a great deal of confusion, and nearly resulted in several collisions. As a result, many of the German battleships were forced to drastically reduce speed, which put the entire fleet in great danger. In an attempt to mitigate the predicament, König turned to port and laid a smokescreen between the German and British lines. During the battle, König suffered significant damage. A heavy shell penetrated the main armored deck toward the bow. Another shell hit the armored bulkhead at the corner and shoved it back five feet, breaking off a large piece from the armor plate in the process. Shell splinters from another hit penetrated several of the casemates that held the 15 cm secondary guns, two of which were disabled. The ammunition stores for these two guns were set on fire and the magazines had to be flooded to prevent an explosion. The ship nevertheless remained combat effective, as her primary battery remained in operation, as did most of her secondary guns; König could also steam at close to her maximum speed. Other areas of the ship