Jutland effectively destroyed the confidence of the German naval command by showing that the assumption at the heart of their strategy was completely false - they were assuming that it was possible to draw out a fraction of the Grand Fleet that the HSF could defeat in detail. Jutland showed them that the RN was not going to do anything by halves, and wasn't going to send a squadron where the entire Grand Fleet could do. This meant that any engagement would be weighted heavily towards the British, as they would greatly outnumber the HSF. Even so, the HSF did make several sorties after Jutland, aimed at creating a battle with a balance favourable to the Germans.

The first came on the 18th August 1916. Scheer sent the HSF to bombard the British coastal town of Sunderland. Shortly after departing the Jade, the battleship Westfalen was torpedoed by a British submarine and forced to withdraw. Alerted by signals intelligence, the Grand Fleet was already at sea, and radio messages sent by Westfalen gave Jellicoe the position of the HSF. However, as the Grand Fleet was steaming to meet the HSF, a light cruiser was torpedoed and sunk by a submarine, causing Jellicoe to act more cautiously. German zeppelins sighted the Grand Fleet, and this, combined with reports from submarines and intercepted radio messages, showed Scheer that he was outmatched, causing him to withdraw. As Jellicoe withdrew, unable to catch his quarry, he lost another light cruiser, again to a submarine attack. The HSF would sortie in October, hoping to draw the British into a torpedo-boat trap close to the German coast. However, the British didn't take the bait, with their forces remaining securely in port. The only outcome was the loss of the cruiser Munchen to submarine torpedoes.

Another sortie came in November 1916. The HSF sortied to cover the recovery of U-20, which had grounded on a sandbank on the Danish coast. While the fleet steamed northwards, the British submarine J-1 maneuvered into position to attack. Firing four torpedoes, she scored two hits, one on each of the battleships Grosser Kurfurst and Kronprinz. With a significant portion of his force damaged, Scheer was forced to withdraw. The rest of the year was used to repair and refit the battlefleet, while plans involving the battlecruisers had to be cancelled due to various mechanical issues.

1917 saw various plans tabled by Scheer, including plans for a raid on shipping on the coast of East Anglia, and a plan to respond to an Allied attack on the coast of Flanders. Both of these would be cancelled - the first because it was seen to be too risky and poor weather precluded airship reconnaissance, and the second because the Allied attack never occurred.

In 1918, the HSF made its last major sortie. British convoys carrying iron ore from Norway had been the target of several raids by German cruisers and destroyers through 1917 and 1918. In response to this, the British had begun to escort them with battleships. On the 23rd of April, the HSF sortied to destroy one such convoy. This operation managed to achieve near complete surprise, with the British unaware that the sortie was occurring. However, the battlecruiser Moltke had a major breakdown - one of her turbines exploded, causing her to take on 2000 tons of water. She was towed back to port by the battleship Oldenburg. Organising this required radio messages to be sent, which the British intercepted. Scheer then discovered that his intelligence had been incorrect, with the convoy sailing the day after. Unwilling to loiter with his force, he returned to base.

A final sortie was planned for the 30th October 1918. This would have taken the HSF into the English Channel, with the aim of fighting a single decisive battle against the Grand Fleet. The sortie would have seen the HSF attack the Thames estuary and Flanders coast, while torpedo boats made night attacks on the Grand Fleet. It would then head to Terschelling on the Dutch coast, where Scheer planned to fight. A major minefield was laid to close off the British base at Scapa Flow, and six lines of U-boats were positioned to attrit the Grand Fleet as it steamed southwards. This operation would spark a major mutiny in the HSF, with sailors believing that their officers were planning a suicidal operation simply to save their honour, rather than for any strategic purpose. The mutiny led to the operation being cancelled, and was one of the first parts of the German revolution that led to the war's end.