At about 00:30, the leading units of the German line encountered British destroyers and cruisers. A violent firefight at close range ensued; "Rheinland" pounded the armored cruiser with her secondary guns at a range of . After a few minutes, "Rheinland" and the rest of the German battleships turned away to avoid torpedoes. At 00:36, "Rheinland" was hit by a pair of shells from "Black Prince". One of the shells cut the cables to the four forward searchlights and damaged the forward funnel. The second struck the side of the ship and exploded on the forward armored transverse bulkhead. Although the bulkhead was bent inward from the explosion, it was not penetrated. About 45 minutes later, "Rheinland" opened fire on another destroyer, possibly , but she had to cease when a German cruiser came too close to the line of fire. At the same time, "Black Prince" was obliterated by accurate fire from the battleship .