 During the ferocious night fighting that occurred as the High Seas Fleet forced its way through the British rear , the IV Scouting Group encountered the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron at close range in the darkness . As the two squadrons closed on each other , the Germans illuminated HMS Southampton and HMS Dublin and concentrated their fire on the two ships . Stuttgart and Elbing fired on Dublin . During this period , Dublin was hit by eight shells , probably all from Stuttgart , though these hits did not do serious damage . The two British ships were badly damaged and set on fire and forced to retreat , while the Germans also fell back in an attempt to bring the British closer to the battlecruisers Moltke and Seydlitz . In the melee , the cruiser Frauenlob was hit and sunk by a torpedo launched by Southampton ; this forced Stuttgart to haul out of line to starboard . She then lost contact with the rest of the IV Scouting Group , so she fell in with the I Battle Squadron . She was present during a later encounter with British light forces around midnight . She remained concealed in the darkness and observed the I Battle Squadron dreadnoughts hammering several British destroyers . The British meanwhile launched torpedoes at the German line , which forced it to turn away . Stuttgart had to thread her way in between the battleships Nassau and Posen in the darkness . 
