 This began what was to be called the ' Run to the South ' as Beatty changed course to steer east south @-@ east at 3 : 45 , paralleling Hipper 's course , now that the range closed to under 18 @,@ 000 yards ( 16 @,@ 000 m ) . The Germans opened fire first at 3 : 48 , followed almost immediately afterwards by the British . The British ships were still in the process of making their turn as only the two leading ships , Lion and Princess Royal had steadied on their course when the Germans opened fire . The British formation was echeloned to the right with Indefatigable in the rear and the furthest to the west , and New Zealand ahead of her and slightly further east . The German fire was accurate from the beginning , but the British overestimated the range as the German ships blended into the haze . Indefatigable aimed at Von der Tann while New Zealand aimed at Moltke while remaining unengaged herself . By 3 : 54 the range was down to 12 @,@ 900 yards ( 11 @,@ 800 m ) and Beatty ordered a course change two points to starboard to open up the range at 3 : 57 . Around 4 : 00 Indefatigable was hit by two or three shells from Von der Tann around the rear turret and almost immediately fell off to starboard and was down by the stern and listing to port . She was hit twice more on the next volley , once on forecastle and on the forward turret , and blew up at about 4 : 03 when her magazines exploded . The most likely cause of her loss was a low @-@ order explosion in ' X ' magazine that blew out her bottom and severed the control shafts between the steering engines and the steering gear , followed by the explosion of her forward magazines from the second volley . Von der Tann only fired 52 28 cm ( 11 in ) shells at Indefatigable before she exploded , taking 1017 men with her . Only two survivors were rescued by the German torpedo boat S68 . 
