 On the night of 15 / 16 December , the main body of the High Seas Fleet encountered British destroyers . Fearing the prospect of a nighttime torpedo attack , Admiral Ingenohl ordered the ships to retreat . Hipper was unaware of Ingenohl 's reversal , and so he continued with the bombardment . Upon reaching the British coast , Hipper 's battlecruisers split into two groups . Seydlitz , Moltke , and Blücher went north to shell Hartlepool , while Von der Tann and Derfflinger went south to shell Scarborough and Whitby . Of the three towns , only Hartlepool was defended by coastal artillery batteries . During the bombardment of Hartlepool , Seydlitz was hit three times and Blücher was hit six times by the coastal battery . Blücher suffered minimal damage , but nine men were killed and another three were wounded . By 09 : 45 on the 16th , the two groups had reassembled , and they began to retreat eastward . 
