This time, turning alone would not save Scheer. As a desperate gamble he ordered a mass torpedo attack on the British fleet by his remaining destroyers.

Admiral Jellicoe now had his chance to destroy the German High Seas Fleet but instead he made the decision to turn away from the retreating Germans. He mistakenly believed that the Germans had developed a torpedo that left no trail of bubbles as it travelled through the water, and so was invisible.

Jellicoe was later heavily criticized for this action but the British Grand Fleet had already suffered many losses and the Germans had been routed. Facing the German torpedoes and further losses was a risk Jellicoe did not need to take.

The First Sea Lord Winston Churchill had famously remarked that Jellicoe was "the only commander on either side capable of losing the war in a single afternoon." By turning away at the Battle of Jutland, Admiral Jellicoe ensured that Churchill's remark didn't turn into prophecy.

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