 Beatty ordered his battlecruisers to make all practicable speed to catch the Germans before they could escape . The leading ships , Lion , Princess Royal and Tiger , were doing 27 knots ( 50 km / h ; 31 mph ) in pursuit and Lion opened fire at 8 : 52 at a range of 20 @,@ 000 yards ( 18 @,@ 000 m ) . The other ships followed a few minutes later but , hampered by the extreme range and decreasing visibility , they did not score their first hit on Blücher until 9 : 09 . The German battlecruisers opened fire themselves a few minutes later at 9 : 11 , at a range of 18 @,@ 000 yards ( 16 @,@ 000 m ) , and concentrated their fire on Lion . They first hit her at 9 : 28 on the waterline with a shell that flooded a coal bunker . Shortly afterwards a 21 @-@ centimetre ( 8 @.@ 3 in ) shell from Blücher hit the roof of ' A ' turret , denting it and knocking out the left gun for two hours . At 9 : 35 Beatty signalled ' Engage the corresponding ships in the enemy 's line ' , but Tiger 's captain , believing that Indomitable was already engaging Blücher , fired at Seydlitz , as did Lion , which left Moltke unengaged and able to continue to engage Lion without risk . Moltke and Derfflinger combined their fire to cripple Lion over the next hour even though Princess Royal engaged Derfflinger during this period . 
