By 23:30 on her own, "Moltke" encountered four British dreadnoughts, from the rear division of the 2nd Battle Squadron. "Moltke"s commander "Kapitän" von Karpf ordered the ship to swing away, hoping he had not been detected. The British ships in fact had seen "Moltke", but had decided to not open fire in order to not reveal their location to the entire German fleet. At 23:55, and again at 00:20, "Kapitän" von Karpf tried to find a path through the British fleet, but both times was unable to do so. It was not until 01:00, after having steamed far ahead of the Grand Fleet, that "Moltke" was able to make good her escape.