During the night of 15 December, the main body of the High Seas Fleet encountered British destroyers. Fearing the prospect of a nighttime torpedo attack, Admiral Ingenohl ordered the ships to retreat. Hipper was unaware of Ingenohl's reversal, and so he continued with the bombardment. Upon reaching the British coast, Hipper's battlecruisers split into two groups. "Seydlitz", "Moltke", and "Blücher" went north to shell Hartlepool, while "Von der Tann" and "Derfflinger" went south to shell Scarborough and Whitby. During the bombardment of Hartlepool, "Moltke" was struck by a shell from a coastal battery, which caused minor damage between decks, but no casualties. "Blücher" was hit six times and "Seydlitz" three times by the coastal battery. By 09:45 on the 16th, the two groups had reassembled, and they began to retreat eastward.