The German battlecruisers wheeled to the northeast of the British forces and made good their escape. Both the British and the Germans were disappointed that they failed to effectively engage their opponents. Admiral Ingenohl's reputation suffered greatly as a result of his timidity. The captain of "Moltke" was furious; he stated that Ingenohl had turned back "because he was afraid of eleven British destroyers which could have been eliminated ... Under the present leadership we will accomplish nothing." The official German history criticized Ingenohl for failing to use his light forces to determine the size of the British fleet, stating: "He decided on a measure which not only seriously jeopardized his advance forces off the English coast but also deprived the German Fleet of a signal and certain victory." In early January 1915 the German naval command found out that British ships were conducting reconnaissance in the Dogger Bank area. Admiral Ingenohl was initially reluctant to attempt to destroy these forces, because the I Scouting Group was temporarily weakened while "Von der Tann" was in drydock for periodic maintenance. "Konteradmiral" (counter admiral) Richard Eckermann—the Chief of Staff of the High Seas Fleet—insisted on the operation, and so Ingenohl relented and ordered Hipper to take his battlecruisers to the Dogger Bank. On 23 January, Hipper sortied, with "Seydlitz" in the lead, followed by "Moltke", "Derfflinger", and "Blücher", along with the light cruisers "Graudenz", "Rostock", "Stralsund", and "Kolberg" and 19 torpedo boats from V Flotilla and II and XVIII Half-Flotillas. "Graudenz" and "Stralsund" were assigned to the forward screen, while "Kolberg" and "Rostock" were assigned to the starboard and port, respectively. Each light cruiser had a half-flotilla of torpedo boats attached. Again, interception and decryption of German wireless signals played an important role. Although they were unaware of the exact plans, the cryptographers of Room 40 were able to deduce that Hipper would be conducting an operation in the Dogger Bank area. To counter it, Beatty's 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, Rear Admiral Gordon Moore's 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron and Commodore William Goodenough's 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron were to rendezvous with Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt's Harwich Force at 08:00 on 24 January, approximately north of the Dogger Bank.