join Beatty when the action began. Rear-Admiral The Hon. Horace Lambert Alexander Hood Battlecruisers (flagship): Capt Arthur Lindesay Cay : Capt Edward Henry Fitzhardinge Heaton-Ellis : Capt Francis William Kennedy Accompanying cruisers : Capt Percy Molyneux Rawson Royds : Capt Robert Neale Lawson Attached destroyers : Cdr Loftus William Jones : Cdr Lewis Gonne Eyre Crabbe (Admiralty M class) : Lt Cdr Fairfax Moresby Kerr : Lt Cdr John Ouchterlony Barron Battle Cruiser Fleet This force of high-speed ships was subordinate to the Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, but operated independently as an advanced guard, intended to reconnoiter aggressively the enemy fleet and to engage enemy scouting forces. At its core were six battlecruisers, accompanied by 13 light cruisers, and escorted by 18 destroyers and an early aircraft carrier. Sortied from Firth of Forth soon after 6.00pm 30 May Vice-Admiral Sir David Richard Beatty in HMS Lion Chief of Staff: Capt Rudolf Walter Bentinck Flag lieutenants: Cdr the Hon. Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett, Lt Cdr Ralph Frederick Seymour Battlecruisers : (flagship) Capt Alfred Chatfield 1st Battlecruiser Squadron: RAdm Osmond Brock, (flagship): Capt Walter Henry Cowan, : Capt Cecil Irby Prowse : Capt Henry Bertram Pelly. 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron: RAdm. William Pakenham,. (flagship): Capt John Green : Capt Charles Fitzgerald Sowerby Light cruisers 1st Light Cruiser Squadron: Cdre Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair Cdre Alexander-Sinclair : Capt John Cameron : Capt Bertram Thesiger : Capt Tufton Beamish 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron: Cdre William Goodenough : Cdre Goodenough : Capt Arthur Duff : Capt Charles Blois Miller : Capt Albert Charles Scott 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron: RAdm Trevylyan Napier (flagship): Capt John Douglas Edwards : Capt Thomas Drummond Pratt : Capt Edward Reeves : Capt William Frederick Blunt Attached vessel seaplane tender : Lt Cdr Charles Gwillim Robinson aircraft: 2 Short Type 184 reconnaissance seaplanes, 2 Sopwith Baby fighter seaplanes Destroyers 13th Destroyer Flotilla Captain James Uchtred Farie (light cruiser): Capt Farie 1st Division / 13th D.F. : Lt Cdr Cecil Henry Hulton Sams : Lt Cdr Montague George Bentinck Legge : Lt Cdr Cuthbert Patrick Blake (attached from 10th D.F., Harwich Force) : Lt Cdr Roger Vincent Alison (detached to escort HMS Engadine) 2nd Division / 13th D.F. : Cdr the Hon. Edward Bingham : Lt Cdr Paul Whitfield : Lt Jack Ernest Albert Mocatta : Lt Cdr John Tovey (detached to escort HMS Engadine) 3rd Division / 13th D.F. : Lt