Thus,
in the very worst of this gigantic battle, the twelve miles of the
final British line were formed. Three battle cruisers had been sunk:
the _Indefatigable_, _Invincible_, and _Queen Mary_. One fast
battleship, the _Warspite_, had fallen astern with a damaged helm. But
six battle cruisers still led the van. Twenty-four fresh battleships
followed. And three fast _Queen Elizabeths_ brought up the rear.
Jellicoe then personally commanded a single line-ahead twelve miles
long and dreadnoughts all. Every part of every change was made as
perfectly as if at the King's review. You could not have made the line
straighter with a ruler, nor placed it better if the Germans had been
standing still. For as Beatty's overlap kept turning them from north
to east and east to south, to save their T from being crossed,
Jellicoe's whole line had now worked to the landward side of them, that
is, between them and their great home base on the German coast.
Fourth Round: Jellicoe Victorious: 6.50 to 9.00 P.M.
Driven to desperation by being overlapped and turned away from Germany,
the Germans made a supreme effort to escape toward the south-west, thus
completing their circle round the bull's-eye, as Jellicoe began to
round them up from the inner.
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