 Her second operation, the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, followed on 15–16 December.On the evening of the 15th, the German battle fleet of some twelve dreadnoughts and eight pre-dreadnoughts came to within of an isolated squadron of six British battleships.However, skirmishes between the rival destroyer screens in the darkness convinced Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, the fleet commander, that he was faced with the entire Grand Fleet.