Around six o'clock in the morning on May 25, the two fleets were in sight of each other and Creutz, knowing that he had a numerically superior force, attacked. Juel first sailed towards the northwest in the direction of Öresund, but then turned south towards Jasmund, the north-eastern part of Rügen. The weather was calm throughout the day and the two fleets made little progress. At nightfall, the distance between them had closed and Juel decided to accept battle. The Swedish fleet had difficulties in keeping its formation, and during a maneuver the Danish line managed to cut the Swedish line of battle, capturing the fireship "Didric" while the fireship "Leoparden" was driven into a Brandenburg squadron heading for Copenhagen and taken.