be captured and British units off the coast of Belgium destroyed. The forces sighted by Germany in the North Sea had been part of a raid launched on 22 April, to draw out the German fleet but this did not go to plan. The battlecruisers and had collided in fog off Denmark, causing serious damage to both ships. Later, the battleship collided with a merchant steamer and three destroyers were also damaged in collisions. The mission had been abandoned and the ships returned north to port; on 24 April the main body of the Grand Fleet was near its bases of Rosyth for the battlecruiser squadron and Scapa Flow for the remainder of the Grand Fleet. Prelude Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth were selected as the targets of the German bombardment. Lowestoft was a base of operations for minelaying and sweeping, while Yarmouth was a base for the submarines that disrupted German movements in the Heligoland Bight. The destruction of the harbours and other military establishments of both towns would assist the German war effort, even if the raid failed to bait the British heavy units. Eight Zeppelin airships would, after dropping their bombs, provide reconnaissance for the battlecruisers, which would conduct rescue operations, should an airship be lost over the water. Two U-boats were sent ahead to Lowestoft, while others were stationed off or mined the Firth of Forth, Scotland. The 1st Scouting Group, consisting of the battlecruisers , , , and (Rear-Admiral Boedicker), would be supported by the four light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group and the fast torpedo boat flotillas VI and IX, with their two command light cruisers. The Main Fleet, consisting of Squadrons I, II and III, Scouting Division IV and the remainder of the torpedo flotillas, was to accompany the battlecruisers to the Hoofden, until the bombardment was over, to protect them against superior enemy forces. Raid At noon on 24 April, German forces were in place and the operation began. The route led around British minefields to the English coast and was intended to put the bombardment group off Lowestoft and Yarmouth at daybreak, where they would bombard the towns for 30 minutes. At 16:00, the battlecruiser Seydlitz—in the vanguard of the reconnaissance force—struck a mine just north-west of Nordeney, in an area swept the night before. She was forced to turn back with a flooded torpedo compartment from a hole on the