After the start of the war, the German fleet embarked on a campaign of raids of the British coast intended to draw out portions of the British Grand Fleet or force the British to disperse their forces to stop the raids. The High Seas Fleet would then be able to concentrate its own ships to destroy isolated elements, thereby reducing the numerical superiority of the British fleet. The first of these was the raid on Yarmouth on 2–3 November 1914, which was conducted by the battlecruisers of "Konteradmiral" ("KAdm"—Rear Admiral) Franz von Hipper's I Scouting Group while the battleships provided distant support. The operation failed to locate any significant British forces. It was followed by the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby on 15–16 December. During the night, the fleet destroyer screen encountered British warships—a squadron of six battleships and their escorts—but the German commander, "Vizeadmiral" ("VAdm"—Vice Admiral) Friedrich von Ingenohl believed he was confronting the entire Grand Fleet and disengaged. The "Nassau"s and the rest of the fleet got underway to relieve the battlecruisers after they were ambushed in the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915, but they arrived too late to intervene. The fleet conducted several sweeps in to the North Sea to try to locate British patrols in March, April, and May but did not encounter any.