 The British forces split going around the shallow Southwest Patch of the Dogger Bank ; Beatty 's ships passed to the north while Warrender passed to the south as they headed west to block the main route through the minefields defending the English coast . This left a 15 nautical miles ( 28 km ) gap between them through which the German light forces began to move . At 12 : 25 , the light cruisers of the II Scouting Group began to pass the British forces searching for Hipper . HMS Southampton spotted the light cruiser Stralsund and signalled a report to Beatty . At 12 : 30 Beatty turned his battlecruisers towards the German ships . Beatty presumed that the German cruisers were the advance screen for Hipper 's ships , however , those were some 50 km ( 31 mi ) behind . The 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron , which had been screening for Beatty 's ships , detached to pursue the German cruisers , but a misinterpreted signal from the British battlecruisers sent them back to their screening positions . This confusion allowed the German light cruisers to escape , and alerted Hipper to the location of the British battlecruisers . The German battlecruisers wheeled to the northeast of the British forces and made good their escape . 
