Page:The Battle of Jutland.pdf/19

 were in his favour, since he had six battle cruisers against von Hipper's five, as well as the 5th Battle Squadron, but presently the odds would be enormously against him. He was faced with the alternative of conducting a half-hearted running fight with von Hipper, to be broken off before the German Battle Fleet was reached, or of engaging closely and hanging on even after the junction with von Scheer had been made. In such a fight the atmospheric conditions would compel him to close the range and so lose the advantage of his heavier guns; and his own battle cruisers were less stoutly protected than those of the enemy, which had the armour of a first-class battleship. Sir David Beatty was never for a moment in doubt. He chose the course which was not only heroic, but right on every ground of strategy. Naval battles are not won by playing for safety. Hawke pursued Conflans in a stormy dusk into Quiberon Bay, and Nelson before the battle of the Nile risked in the darkness the shoals and reefs of an uncharted sea. Twice already by a narrow margin Beatty had missed bringing the German capital ships to action. He was resolved Rh