battleships and . The British destroyers launched a torpedo attack, which forced the three cruisers to turn to starboard to avoid them. This pointed the cruisers directly at the German line. Elbing attempted to steam between Nassau and , but Posens captain wasn't aware of the movement until it was too late to avoid a collision. Posen turned hard to starboard, but still collided with Elbings starboard quarter. The cruiser was holed below the waterline, which flooded the starboard engine room first. She initially took on a list of eighteen degrees, which allowed water to spread to the port engine room. With the engines shut down, steam began to condense in the pipes, which disabled the electric generators and caused the ship to lose electrical power. As water spread throughout the ship's engine compartments, the list was reduced. The ship was completely immobilized, though she was not in danger of sinking. At 02:00, the torpedo boat came alongside and took off 477 officers and men of Elbings crew. Her commander and a small group of officers and men remained on board. They rigged an improvised sail in an attempt to bring the ship closer to shore, but at around 03:00, British destroyers were spotted to the south and the order to scuttle the ship was given. They then lowered the ship's cutter into the water and set off; while steaming back to port, they rescued the surgeon from the destroyer . At around 07:00, a Dutch trawler met the cutter and took the men to Holland. In the course of the Battle of Jutland, Elbing had fired 230 rounds of 15 cm ammunition and a single torpedo. Four of her crew were killed and twelve more were wounded. Footnotes References Further reading Pillau-class cruisers Ships built in Danzig 1914 ships World War I cruisers of Germany Maritime incidents in 1916 Ships sunk at the Battle of Jutland Ships built by Schichau