Surrender of the German High Seas Fleet, 1918
An Eyewitness Account by a Seaman Aboard USS Texas
Under conditions of the Armistice of November 1918, the German battle fleet had to be disarmed rapidly and its newer units sailed to Scotland and surrendered to the combined Allied fleet (the British Grand Fleet plus 9 U.S. dreadnoughts). On the appointed day, following the orders of Adm. David Beatty, the Allied fleet drew up in a double column in the waters off Scapa leaving a wide expanse of grey water in between into which the rusty, weed-grown German battle fleet -- the Hochseeflotte, or High Seas Fleet -- steamed and anchored in a moving ceremonial on the morning of November 22. A U.S. battleship sailor described the event as follows:
We were there when the ships came in, when the German ships surrendered. They all came in the Firth of Forth and dropped anchor. We didn't get too close to them, and they didn't get too close to us. I could see they were in a pretty run-down condition -- they didn't look as though they'd been maintained. It was a kind of sad thing to see all these immense ships come in there and you know, just surrender like that. They looked so bedraggled to me, they just looked beaten, that's the way they impressed me. They didn't look like fighting ships any more. It was an overcast day, as I recall. If the sun had been shining maybe they would have looked better, but it was an overcast, dull day -- it was a funeral day, and it was a funeral for the German Navy.
-- John Paul Elliot, USN
Gunners in protective gear, toting gas masks against the chance of a German double-cross, watch from the deck of a British battleship as the German fleet steams past to be interned. Their ship is one of some 250 Allied vessels present to witness the surrender. The event was known as "Operation ZZ." At 3:57 p.m. the German flag was hauled down for the last time on all the Kaiser's ships. Immediately after, the British inspected to verify that thorough disarmament had been carried out in compliance with the Armistice terms. Gradually over the next 5 days, the British escorted groups of German battleships into the vast anchorage at Scapa Flow, completing the move by the 27th. In mid-December the full crews who had brought the German ships across the North Sea were repatriated to Germany. Empty and echoing, the ships were left with a caretaker roster of some 4,800 servicemen. What to do with the ships was becoming a vexed question in the peace negotiations, stretching out the fleet's stay in limbo. In June 1919 the German caretaker crews were further reduced to approximately 1,700 men and 200 officers. They were confined to their ships, notwithstanding that German crews were not accustomed to living on board, and that their ships were not constructed for livability.
Units of the High Seas Fleet steam down the Jade one last time, on their way to the surrender. Click here to enlarge.
Artist W.L. Wylie's beautiful study of the German battleships interned at Scapa suggests the stark loneliness of the place -- and the monotony of internment in such a place. Click here to enlarge.
The Scuttling of the High Seas Fleet: June 21, 1919
The early, cold summer of 1919 found the disarmed core of the German battle fleet interned at the British base at Scapa Flow, in the remote Orkney Islands north of Scotland. The once-magnificent German ships were under 24-hour watch by the battle-ready British battle squadron which shared the great anchorage. Day after day the ships lay at anchor, rusting quietly. Conditions aboard the German vessels were dismal, with little or no heat, rudimentary food, and little to do. Only the officers were allowed an occasional trip ashore. Much of the fleet had been in open mutiny at the time of the German surrender -- indeed, the revolutionary sailors of the fleet had been very influential in toppling the Kaiser in November 1918. Discontent continued to fester as the fleet's fate was debated. The British, overwhelmingly the dominant naval power, favored sinking them all as targets after researching and extracting their construction secrets. Other, smaller powers hoped to benefit by several dreadnoughts, but it was a contentious issue who would get how many; Britain saw no reason to enlarge the fleets of potential rivals.
The German crews solved the problem for them. On the morning of June 21, 1919 -- when the Armistice expired and was due to be replaced by an extension -- the British First Battle Squadron weighed and proceeded to sea for target practice, leaving the 77 German warships -- 12 battleships, 8 battlecruisers, 8 light cruisers, and 49 destroyers -- under the supervision of 2 "V" class destroyers. This was the opportunity the Germans had long been awaiting. In preparation, condenser valves had been plugged with wax, and the ships had been thoroughly sabotaged to be scuttled on a moment's notice. Referring to a well-rehearsed plan, as soon as the British were well clear of the harbor, R. Adm. Ludwig von Reuter signaled "Condition Z - Scuttle!" Throughout the German fleet, the seacocks were jammed open, the valves smashed so that, even in rapid response, the British could not arrest the sinkings. Gradually, slowly the great warships began to fill, shudder, list, capsize. Some plunged bows-down, rearing their screws and rudders obscenely above the placid surface. Others buried their sterns deep into the frigid Orkney waters, tilting their great ram bows and gigantic anchors skyward as they slipped beneath the waves. German crewmen piled into the lifeboats, bandsmen defiantly playing "Deutschland Über Alles" as they pulled away.
Alerted by wireless from base, the British came pelting back: too late, too late. Of the 77 ships interned, 52 were irretrievably sunk. In their rage, the British summarily executed a number of German sailors who posed no danger to them; 9 were shot dead and many more wounded. Only a few cruisers, destroyers, and the 15" battleship Baden were rescued; the remaining German fleet sank to the bottom, where (with the exception of a few salvaged in the 1920s - early 30s) many remain to this day. It was the largest sinking of naval tonnage ever in a single incident: more than 400,000 tons. After indulging in some harsh, over-the-top rhetoric, the British realized that the Germans had neatly solved the problem of what to do with their ships. Adm. Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, the First Sea Lord, confided to his diary, "I look upon the sinking as a real blessing. It disposes of the thorny question of the distribution of the German ships. When the facts become known, everybody will probably think, like me, 'Thank the Lord.'" For the 1,890 caretaker crewmen, it meant exchanging one prison for another as they became POWs until the Versailles treaty went into effect later that year.
German sailors from the Nürnberg surrender as they land. Boats full of sailors were fired on by returning British forces.