Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow
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Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow
Part of First World War
SMS Bayern sinking by the stern
Date 21 June 19191 Location Scapa Flow, Scotland Result Sinking of ten battleships, five battlecruisers, five cruisers and 32 destroyers
Belligerents
United Kingdom	German Empire
Commanders
Sydney Fremantle	Ludwig von Reuter
Casualties and losses
None	Most of the fleet scuttled; nine killed; 16 wounded

The scuttling of the German fleet took place at the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow in Scotland after the end of the First World War. The High Seas Fleet had been interned there under the terms of the Armistice whilst negotiations took place over the fate of the ships. Fearing that the fleet would be seized and divided amongst the allied powers, the German commander, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, decided to scuttle the fleet.

The scuttling was carried out on 21 June 1919. Intervening British guard ships were able to beach a number of the ships, but 52 of the 74 interned vessels sank. Many of the wrecks were salvaged over the next few years and were towed away for scrapping. The few that remain are popular dive sites.

Background

The signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, at Compiègne, France, ended the First World War. The Allied powers had agreed that Germany's U-boat fleet should be surrendered without the possibility of return, but were unable to agree upon a course of action regarding the German surface fleet. The Americans suggested that the ships be interned in a neutral port until a final decision had been reached, but the two countries that were approached – Norway and Spain – both refused.² Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss suggested that the fleet be interned at Scapa Flow with a skeleton crew of German sailors, and guarded in the interim by the Grand Fleet.²

The cruisers SMS Emden, SMS Frankfurt and SMS Bremse entering Scapa Flow.

The terms were transmitted to Germany on 12 November, instructing them to make the High Seas Fleet ready to sail by 18 November, or the allies would occupy Heligoland.² On the night of 15 November, Rear-Admiral Hugo Meurer, the representative of Admiral Franz von Hipper, met Admiral David Beatty aboard Beatty's flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth. Beatty presented Meurer with the terms, which were expanded at a second meeting the following day. The U-boats were to surrender to Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt at Harwich, under the supervision of the Harwich Force.² The surface fleet was to sail to the Firth of Forth and surrender to Beatty. They would then be led to Scapa Flow and interned, pending the outcome of the peace negotiations. Meurer asked for an extension to the deadline, aware that the sailors were still in a mutinous mood (which had earlier led to the Wilhelmshaven mutiny), and that the officers might have difficulty in getting them to obey orders. Meurer eventually signed the terms after midnight.²

Surrender of the fleet

HMS Cardiff leads the High Seas Fleet into Rosyth.

The first ships to be surrendered were the U-boats, which began to arrive at Harwich on 20 November, with 176 eventually being handed over. Hipper refused to lead his fleet to the surrender, delegating the task to Rear-Admiral Ludwig von Reuter.² The German fleet was met by the light cruiser HMS Cardiff on the morning of 21 November, and led to the rendezvous with over 370 ships of the Grand Fleet and other allied navies. There were 70 German ships in total; the battleship SMS König and the cruiser SMS Dresden had engine trouble and had to be left behind. The destroyer SMS V30 struck a mine whilst crossing, and sank.²

The German ships were escorted into the Firth of Forth, where they anchored. Beatty signalled them:

The German flag will be hauled down at sunset today and will not be hoisted again without permission. ²³

The fleet was then moved piece by piece over the next few days to Gutter Sound at Scapa Flow. Eventually a total of 74 ships were interned there, the König and Dresden having arrived, as well as the destroyer SMS V129 and the new battleship SMS Baden, which arrived on 9 January.² Of the 20,000 sailors who had sailed the fleet across the North Sea, some 15,000 had left by the end of the year, with the numbers slowly being reduced thereafter. The fleet was guarded by elements of Sir Charles Madden's Atlantic Fleet.²

In captivity

Discipline soon broke down on the ships, with many chores and day-to-day tasks being left undone. The Germans were forbidden from going ashore or to other ships. Communication between the German ships could be carried out only by flag or signal lamp. Food was brought twice monthly from Germany. Mail was censored, and only British newspapers were permitted aboard the ships, and these four days after they had been printed.² Reuter, aboard his flagship SMS Friedrich der Grosse, had to contend with unruly sailors stomping on the deck above his cabin as he was trying to sleep. He eventually shifted his flag to the cruiser SMS Emden.²

German sailors fishing over the side of a destroyer

Negotiations over the fate of the ships were underway at the Paris Peace Conference. The French and Italians each wanted a quarter of the ships. The British wanted them destroyed since they knew any re-distribution would be detrimental to the proportional advantage in numbers they had compared to other navies. While the Americans had no interest in the ships themselves, they did not want them to go to the other allied powers.² Reuter was kept in the dark as to the proceedings. The Armistice forbade any attempt to destroy the fleet, but on 17 June he drew up plans for the scuttling of the fleet, should it become necessary to keep it out of the allies' hands.² He ordered that all watertight doors, hatchway covers, ventilators and port holes be kept open at all times, while lifeboats were prepared to evacuate the crews. On the issuing of the signal 'Paragraph Eleven. Confirm', the crews of the ships were to commence scuttling them.² On 18 June the regular German supply ships took 2,700 of the crewmen back to Germany, leaving just 1,800.² On 17 June The Times carried a story describing the ultimatum issued to the German government, demanding the signing of the Treaty of Versailles by noon on 21 June. Reuter did not receive the paper until 20 June, and, convinced that on the expiration of the deadline the British would attempt to seize the fleet, decided that he would scuttle his ships on the morning of the following day. In the meantime, and unknown to Reuter, the allies had agreed to an extension of the deadline, to the evening of 23 June.²

The fleet is scuttled

The British guard ships, under Vice-Admiral Sir Sydney Fremantle, had received instructions to seize the German ships on the expiration of the deadline, at 7 p.m. on 23 June. Fremantle decided to take his Revenge-class battleships to sea to carry out exercises, before returning to seize the fleet. He put to sea on the morning of 21 June, taking with him five Revenge-class battleships, two light cruisers and nine destroyers. This left two destroyers, seven trawlers and a number of drifters overseeing the fleet.² Reuter sent a signal at 10 a.m., notifying the German ships to standby for orders. At 11.20 a.m. the signal 'Paragraph Eleven. Confirm' was sent by flag, and repeated by semaphore and searchlights.²

The order was rapidly carried out: the German ensign was hoisted, valves, condenser tubes and submerged torpedo tubes were opened, and the crews began to abandon ship. The first ship to sink was the Friedrich der Grosse, with many others following over the next five hours.²⁴ As soon as they realized what was happening, the few remaining British ships began to attempt to tow ships into shallow waters, while others attempted to force German sailors back to their ships to abort the sinkings. Parties were put aboard ships to stop the scuttling, or to prevent the Germans carrying it out. Nine Germans were killed and another 16 wounded as the British attempted to stop them sinking the fleet.²

Fremantle was signalled, and rushed back at full speed, arriving back at 2.30 p.m. By then, most of the German ships had been sunk, or were in the process of sinking. The last to sink was the battlecruiser SMS Hindenburg.²⁴ 1,774 Germans were picked up and sailed to Cromarty Firth. Reuter was brought before Fremantle, who told him that he and his men had

...violated common honour and the honourable traditions of seamen of all nations. With an armistice in full operation, you commenced hostilities without notice. By your conduct, you have added one more to the breaches of faith and honour of which Germany has been guilty in this war. You have proved to the few who doubted it that the word of the New Germany is no more to be trusted than that of the old. I now transfer you as prisoners of war.²⁴

Reactions

Only the upper works of SMS Hindenburg remained above the water.

The French were angry that the German fleet was gone, having hoped to take over at least some of the ships.² The British Admiral Wemyss privately remarked:

I look upon the sinking of the German fleet as a real blessing. It disposes once and for all the thorny question of the redistribution of these ships.²

German Admiral Reinhard Scheer declared:

I rejoice. The stain of surrender has been wiped from the escutcheon of the German Fleet. The sinking of these ships has proved that the spirit of the fleet is not dead. This last act is true to the best traditions of the German navy.²

Aftermath

Of the 74 German ships in Scapa Flow, 15 of the 16 capital ships, 5 of the 8 cruisers, and 32 of the 50 destroyers were sunk.³ The remainder either remained afloat, or were towed to shallower waters and beached. The beached ships were later dispersed to the allied navies, but most of the sunken ships were initially left at the bottom of Scapa Flow, the cost of salvaging them being deemed to be not worth the potential returns, owing to the glut of scrap metal left after the end of the war, with plenty of obsolete warships having been broken up.⁵ After complaints from locals that the wrecks were a hazard to navigation, a salvage company was formed in 1923, which brought up four of the sunken destroyers.

Salvage work in progress on the German battleship SMS Baden at Scapa Flow. The cruiser SMS Frankfurt is also in view.

At about this time, the entrepreneur Ernest Cox became involved. He bought 26 destroyers from the Admiralty for £250, as well as the Seydlitz and Hindenburg.⁵ He began operations to re-float the destroyers using an old German dry dock he had purchased and subsequently modified. He was able to lift 24 of his 26 destroyers over the next year and a half, after which he began work on the larger vessels. He developed a new salvage technique whereby divers would patch the holes in the submerged hulls, and then pump air into them so they would rise to the surface, where they could then be towed to the breakers.⁵ Using this technique, he re-floated several of the ships. His methods were costly, however, and the final cost of raising the Hindenburg ran to some £30,000. Industrial action and a coal strike in 1926 nearly brought operations to a halt, but Cox instead dug out the coal in the submerged Seydlitz, using it to power his machines until the end of the strike.⁵ Salvaging the Seydlitz also proved difficult, as the ship sank again during the first attempt to raise her, wrecking most of the salvage equipment. Undaunted, Cox tried again, ordering that when she was next raised, news cameras would be there to capture him witnessing the moment. The plan nearly backfired when the Seydlitz was accidentally refloated while Cox was holidaying in Switzerland. Cox told the workers to sink her again, then returned to Britain to be present as the Seydlitz was duly re-floated a second time.⁵ Cox's company eventually raised 26 destroyers, two battlecruisers and five battleships.⁵

Cox sold his remaining interests to the Alloa Shipbuilding Company, and retired as the 'man who bought a navy'.⁵ The company later became Metal Industries, and went on to raise a further five cruisers, battlecruisers and battleships, before the outbreak of the Second World War brought operations to a halt.⁶ The remaining wrecks lie in deeper waters, in depths up to 47 meters, and there has been no economic incentive to attempt to raise them since. Minor salvage is still carried out to recover small pieces of steel that can be used in radiation sensitive devices, such as Geiger counters, as the ships sank before nuclear weapons and tests irradiated the world's supply of steel.⁶

The wrecks that remain are scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Divers are allowed to visit them but need a permit to do so.⁷

A tug alongside the scuttled SMS G102

      This, along with the asterisk (*), indicates that the ship was successfully scuttled

See also

• Gutter Sound

Notes

References

• Massie, Robert K. (2004). Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-40878-0. 
• King-Hall, Stephen (1929). The War on Sea: 1914-1918. London: Ernest Benn Limited. 
• van der Vat, Dan (2000). Standard of Power: The Royal Navy in the Twentieth Century. London: Random House. ISBN 0-7126-6535-8. 
• Hore, Peter (2005). The Habit of Victory: The Story of the Royal Navy, 1545-1945. London: National Maritime Museum. ISBN 0-283-07312-8. 
• Herman, Arthur (2005). To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-73418-3. 
• Longmate, Norman (1991). Island Fortress: The Defence of Great Britain, 1603-1945. London: Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-6813-6. 
• Fine, John Christopher (2004). Lost on the Ocean Floor: Diving the World's Ghost Ships. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 159114275X. 
• Butler, Daniel Allen (2006). Distant Victory: The Battle of Jutland and the Allied Triumph in the First World War. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0275990737. 
• Maritime and Coastguard Agency (2007). "MCA - PROTECTED WRECKS IN THE UK: Wrecks designated as Maritime Scheduled Ancient Monuments". MCA Receiver of Wreck. mcga.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-08-11.

External links

• The scuttling at Scapa Flow
• List of ships scuttled in Scapa Flow
• Feature Articles: Scuttling at Scapa Flow at firstworldwar.com
• Wartime history of Scapa Flow
• Diving the wrecks of Scapa Flow, with sonar images