The two fleets exchanged gunfire at the opening salvo of the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of World War I. In the first 55 minutes of the fire duel, which resulted in the loss of two British battle cruisers, Indefatigable and Queen Mary, more than 2,000 men died. Jellicoe placed 96 British ships around 59 German ships in the wee hours of June 1 while various elements of the two fleets were still engaged in combat. In spite of the missed opportunities and huge losses, the Battle of Jutland had maintained British naval superiority over the North Sea. The German High Seas Fleet would not attempt to evade the Allied cordon or engage the Grand Fleet throughout World War I. Scheer now wanted to catch and destroy this increased force before the remainder of the Grand Fleet could sortie south from Scapa to its rescue. Hipper's squadron was to go north from Wilhelmshaven to a position off the coast of Norway. At intervals of around fifty miles, the battle divisions of the High Seas Fleet under Scheer would follow this force. The 5th Battle Squadron crossed the British line and damaged Hipper's battle cruisers with such power that it was no longer able to protect them as the German torpedo-boat screen surged in to start a torpedo attack. At this precise moment, the Queen Mary, another British battle cruiser, was struck in a significant magazine and caught fire with a deafening explosion. Scheer had regrettably requested aircraft reconnaissance of the area around Horns Reef for the next day, but the British Admiralty had not notified him of this, forcing the British ships to cruise too far south during the night. With 14 vessels lost, including three battle cruisers, and 6,784 deaths, the British navy suffered more losses than the German navy, which lost just 11 ships.