For the next hour, the 5th Battle Squadron acted as Beatty's rearguard, drawing fire from all the German ships within range, while by 17:10 Beatty had deliberately eased his own squadron out of range of Hipper's now-superior battlecruiser force. Since visibility and firepower now favoured the Germans, there was no incentive for Beatty to risk further battlecruiser losses when his own gunnery could not be effective. Illustrating the imbalance, Beatty's battlecruisers did not score any hits on the Germans in this phase until 17:45, but they had rapidly received five more before he opened the range (four on "Lion", of which three were by "Lützow", and one on "Tiger" by "Seydlitz"). Now the only targets the Germans could reach, the ships of the 5th Battle Squadron, received simultaneous fire from Hipper's battlecruisers to the east (which HMS "Barham" and engaged) and Scheer's leading battleships to the south-east (which and "Malaya" engaged). Three took hits: "Barham" (four by "Derfflinger"), "Warspite" (two by "Seydlitz"), and "Malaya" (seven by the German battleships). Only "Valiant" was unscathed.