Division of II Battle Squadron, the rearmost German formation, Schleswig-Holstein was the last battleship in the line. II Battle Squadron was commanded by Rear Admiral . During the "Run to the North", Scheer ordered the fleet to pursue the retreating battleships of the British 5th Battle Squadron at top speed. Schleswig-Holstein and her sisters were significantly slower than the dreadnoughts and quickly fell behind. During this period, Admiral Scheer directed to place herself behind Schleswig-Holstein so he would have a flagship on either end of the formation. By 19:30, the Grand Fleet had arrived on the scene and confronted Admiral Scheer with significant numerical superiority. The German fleet was severely hampered by the presence of the slower Deutschland-class ships; if Scheer had ordered an immediate turn towards Germany, he would have had to sacrifice the slower ships to make his escape. Admiral Scheer decided to reverse the course of the fleet with the Gefechtskehrtwendung, a maneuver that required every unit in the German line to turn 180° simultaneously. Having fallen behind, the ships of II Battle Squadron could not conform to the new course following the turn, and fell to the disengaged side of the German line. Admiral Mauve considered moving his ships to the rear of the line, astern of III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts, but decided against it when he realized the movement would interfere with the maneuvering of Hipper's battlecruisers. Instead, he attempted to place his ships at the head of the line. But by the time II Squadron reached its position at the head of the line, Scheer had ordered another Gefechtskehrtwendung, which placed them at the rear of the German fleet. By 21:00, Scheer had turned the fleet around a third time, but the slow speed of Schleswig-Holstein and her squadron mates caused them to fall out of position, to the disengaged side of the fleet. Later on the first day of the battle, Hipper's badly damaged battlecruisers were being engaged by their British rivals. Schleswig-Holstein and the other so-called "five-minute ships" came to their aid by steaming in between the opposing battlecruiser squadrons. These ships were very briefly engaged, owing in large part to the poor visibility. The visibility was so bad, the gunners aboard Schleswig-Holstein could not make out a target, and she did not fire her main guns. At 21:35 a heavy caliber shell struck the ship on the port-side, punching a hole