 This began what was to be called the ' Run to the South ' as Beatty changed course to steer east south @-@ east at 3 : 45 , paralleling Hipper 's course , now that the range closed to under 18 @,@ 000 yards ( 16 @,@ 000 m ) . The Germans opened fire first at 3 : 48 , followed almost immediately afterward by the British . The British ships were still in the process of making their turn as only the two leading ships , Lion and Princess Royal had steadied on their course when the Germans opened fire . The German fire was accurate from the beginning , but the British overestimated the range as the German ships blended into the haze . Lion and Princess Royal , as the leading British ships , engaged Lützow , the leading ship in the German formation . Lutzow targeted Lion while Derfflinger , the second ship in the German formation engaged Princess Royal , her opposite number . Fire from both German ships was very accurate , and both Lion and Princess Royal had been hit twice within three minutes of the Germans ' opening fire . By 3 : 54 the range was down to 12 @,@ 900 yards ( 11 @,@ 800 m ) , and Beatty ordered a course change two points to starboard to open up the range at 3 : 57 . Lion scored her first hit on Lützow two minutes later , but Lützow returned the favour at 4 : 00 when one of her 305 mm shells hit ' Q ' turret at a range of 16 @,@ 500 yards ( 15 @,@ 100 m ) . The shell penetrated the joint between the nine @-@ inch turret face plate and the 3 @.@ 5 @-@ inch roof and detonated over the center of the left @-@ hand gun . It blew the front roof plate and the center face plate off the turret , killed or wounded everyone in the turret , and started a fire that smouldered , despite efforts to put it out that had been thought to have been successful . Accounts of subsequent events differ , but the magazine doors had been closed and the magazine flooded when the smouldering fire ignited the eight full propellant charges in the turret working room at 4 : 28 . They burnt violently , with the flames reaching as high as the masthead , and killed most of the magazine and shell room crews still in the lower part of the mounting . The gas pressure severely buckled the magazine doors , and it is probable that the magazine would have exploded if it had not already been flooded . Royal Marine Major Francis Harvey , the mortally wounded turret commander , was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for having ordered the magazine flooded . 
