 Heavy fog masked the Russian ships to the German gunners, preventing them from being able to return effective fire.Karpf ordered the slow "Albatross" to make for neutral Swedish waters, where theoretically she would be protected from the Russian attack, while he tried to escape with "Augsburg" to the south.Soon, all four Russian cruisers were firing at "Albatross", allowing "Augsburg" and the torpedo boats to escape freely.