 On 31 May 1916 the 2nd BCS consisted of New Zealand ( Flagship of Rear Admiral William Christopher Pakenham ) and Indefatigable as Australia was still under repair following her collision with New Zealand on 22 April . It was assigned to Admiral Beatty 's Battlecruiser Fleet which had put to sea to intercept a sortie by the High Seas Fleet into the North Sea . The British were able to decode the German radio messages and left their bases before the Germans put to sea . Hipper 's battlecruisers spotted the Battlecruiser Fleet to their west at 3 : 20 , but Beatty 's ships did not spot the Germans to their east until 2 : 30 . Almost immediately afterwards , at 3 : 32 , he ordered a course change to east south @-@ east to position himself astride the German 's line of retreat and called his ships ' crews to action stations . He also ordered the 2nd BCS , which had been leading , to fall in astern of the 1st BCS . Hipper ordered his ships to turn to starboard , away from the British , to assume a south @-@ easterly course , and reduced speed to 18 knots ( 33 km / h ; 21 mph ) to allow three light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group to catch up . With this turn Hipper was falling back on the High Seas Fleet , then about 60 miles ( 97 km ) behind him . Around this time Beatty altered course to the east as it was quickly apparent that he was still far too north to cut off Hipper . 
