"Helgoland" and her sisters first entered direct combat shortly after 18:00. The German line was steaming northward and encountered the destroyers and , which had been disabled earlier in the battle. "Nomad", which had been attacked by the ships at the head of the line, exploded and sank at 18:30, followed five minutes later by the "Nestor", sunk by main and secondary gunfire from "Helgoland", "Thüringen" and several other German battleships. At 19:20, "Helgoland" and several other battleships began firing on , which, along with the other s of the 5th Battle Squadron, had been pursuing the German battlecruiser force. The shooting stopped quickly though, as the Germans lost sight of their target; "Helgoland" had fired only about 20 shells from her main guns.