 Lion rejoined the Battlecruiser Fleet , again as Beatty 's flagship , on 19 July 1916 without ' Q ' turret , but then had the turret replaced during a visit to Armstrong Whitworth at Elswick that lasted from 6 to 23 September . In the meantime , on the evening of 18 August the Grand Fleet put to sea in response to a message deciphered by Room 40 which indicated that the High Seas Fleet , less the II Squadron , would be leaving harbour that night . The German objective was to bombard Sunderland on the 19th , with extensive reconnaissance provided by airships and submarines . The Grand Fleet sailed with 29 dreadnought battleships and six battlecruisers . Throughout the 19th , Jellicoe and Scheer received conflicting intelligence , with the result that having reached its rendezvous in the North Sea , the Grand Fleet steered north in the erroneous belief that it had entered a minefield before turning south again . Scheer steered south @-@ eastward pursuing a lone British battle squadron reported by an airship , which was in fact the Harwich Force under Commodore Tyrwhitt . Having realised their mistake the Germans then shaped course for home . The only contact came in the evening when Tyrwhitt sighted the High Seas Fleet but was unable to achieve an advantageous attack position before dark , and broke off contact . Both the British and the German fleets returned home , the British having lost two cruisers to submarine attacks and the Germans having a dreadnought battleship damaged by torpedo . 
