 As the ship was sinking , British destroyers steamed towards her in an attempt to rescue survivors from the water . However , the German zeppelin L5 mistook the sinking Blücher for a British battlecruiser , and tried to bomb the destroyers , which withdrew . Figures vary on the number of casualties ; Paul Schmalenbach reported 6 officers of a total of 29 and 275 enlisted men of a complement of 999 were pulled from the water , for a total of 747 men killed . The official German sources examined by Erich Gröner stated that 792 men died when Blücher sank , while James Goldrick referred to British documents , which reported only 234 men survived from a crew of at least 1 @,@ 200 . Among those who had been rescued was Kapitan zur See ( captain at sea ) Erdmann , the commanding officer of Blücher . He later died of pneumonia while in British captivity . A further twenty men would also die as prisoners of war . 
