 Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl , commander of the German High Seas Fleet , decided that another raid on the English coast should be carried out in the hopes of luring a portion of the Grand Fleet into combat where it could be destroyed . At 03 : 20 , CET on 15 December 1914 , Blücher , Moltke , Von der Tann , the new battlecruiser Derfflinger , and Seydlitz , along with the light cruisers Kolberg , Strassburg , Stralsund , Graudenz , and two squadrons of torpedo boats left the Jade estuary . The ships sailed north past the island of Heligoland , until they reached the Horns Reef lighthouse , at which point the ships turned west towards Scarborough . Twelve hours after Hipper left the Jade , the High Seas Fleet , consisting of 14 dreadnoughts and eight pre @-@ dreadnoughts and a screening force of two armored cruisers , seven light cruisers , and 54 torpedo boats , departed to provide distant cover for the bombardment force . 
