Scapa Flow Incident

The **Scapa Flow Incident** took place at the British Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow, Scotland, on 27 May 1919, shortly after the end of the Great War. The German High Seas Fleet was interned there under the Armistice while peace negotiations took place. These negotiations were prematurely suspended as a result of the eruption of the German Civil War on 1 May 1919, and it was left unclear if any German authority would sign peace terms. Fearing that the crews would rebel and scuttle the ships, the British opted to seize the ships by storming them at night. Unbeknownst to them, the German Admiral Ludwig von Reuter had already secretly transmitted the order to scuttle the fleet, to be carried out on 31 May. As a result the crews had already made preparations to scuttle their ships.

The seizure did not go as planned, as although some ships were seized quickly by the British the alarm was quickly raised and fighting ensued as the German crews rushed to sink their ships. By the end 17 of the 74 ships were sunk and 33 German sailors were killed, along with 2 British sailors. The remaining ships were beached or seized outright, with some sustaining damage.

## Background

The signing of the Armistice of Compiègne on 11 November 1918 marked the end the Great War. The fate of the German fleet, whose sailors had played a critical role in the November Revolution, was not so clear. Though it was agreed that the U-boat fleet was to be surrendered, there was no consensus among the Allied powers with regards to the High Seas Fleet. It was suggested by the Americans to intern the fleet in a neutral port, after which the fate of the ships could be decided in peace negotiations. However, this plan fell through after the two proposed countries, Norway and Spain, both refused. It was ultimately decided that the ships were to be disarmed and manned by skeleton crews, who would sail the fleet to the British port of Scapa Flow, where they would be interned under guard by the Royal Navy. On 12 November 1918 the German government was ordered to make the High Seas Fleet ready to sail by 18 November, and the British threatened to seize Heligoland if this demand was not met.

On 15 November German Rear-Admiral Hugo Meurer was sent as a representative of Admiral Franz von Hipper, the commander of the High Seas Fleet, to negotiate with the British Admiral David Beatty, aboard his flagship HMS *Queen Elizabeth*. The terms were delivered to Meurer by Beatty that night, and further terms were delivered the following day. The U-boats were to sail to Harwich and surrender, where they would be interned under the supervision of the Harwich Force, while the High Seas Fleet was to sail to the Firth of Forth and surrender to Beatty. From there they would be led to Scapa Flow and interned until peace negotiations were concluded. Meurer requested an extension of the deadline due to the mutinous mood of the sailors and the fear his officers would be unable to get them to obey orders, but ultimately he signed the terms.

## Surrender of the Fleet

The U-boats set out on 18 November and arrived at Harwich as planned on 20 November. The surrender of the High Seas Fleet proved harder to achieve, as it was under the control of the soldiers' councils, who the British refused to negotiate with. Admiral Hipper refused to lead the High Seas Fleet to its surrender, but the British demanded that an admiral head the fleet, so Rear-Admiral Ludwig von Reuter was chosen for the task. The soldiers' councils received the concession of being allowed to fly a small red pennant atop the mast, but otherwise the *Reichskriegsflagge* (war flag) would be flown for the last time. The formation set out on 19 November with 9 battleships, 5 heavy cruisers, 7 light cruisers and 50 torpedo boats. The battleship SMS *König*, which had engine troubles, and light cruiser *Dresden*, which was damaged from a partial scuttling during the Wilhelmshaven mutiny, were unable to immediately accompany the fleet, arriving together later on 6 December. Due to an error the battleship *Baden* also did not accompany the fleet, as the unfinished heavy cruiser *Mackensen* had been demanded in its place. Once the error was corrected it arrived at Scapa Flow on 7 January 1919. During the crossing the torpedo boat *V30* struck a mine and sank with two dead. *V129* was later sent to replace it, accompanying *König* and *Dresden*.

The fleet arrived at the rendezvous point at the Firth of Forth on 21 November, where they were met by over 370 Allied ships, including the entire Grand Fleet, an American squadron, a French cruiser, and numerous aircraft. The fleet was investigated to ensure the ships had been disarmed and then Admiral Beatty ordered the Germans to lower their war flag and never raise it again without permission. The fleet was led to Scapa Flow in four squadrons, beginning with the torpedo boats on 22 November, followed by the heavy cruisers on 24 November, the IV Squadron on 25 November, and the rest on 26 November. By 27 November all German ships present at the Firth of Forth had made it to Scapa Flow, under heavy British escort.

## Captivity

The initial 20,000 men who had accompanied the fleet when it sailed to Scapa Flow was quickly reduced to around 4,500 by mid-December, which constituted the bare minimum needed to maintain the ships. The conditions on the ships clearly deteriorated, as the demoralized sailors were not permitted to leave their ships to go ashore or visit other ships. Recreation for the sailors was limited to their ship, and consisted mainly of catching fish and seagulls, drinking brandy, and smoking cigarettes and cigars. Their only contact with the British consisted of occasional visits by officers for official business. Food provided came from shipments from Germany twice a month, but it was not of good quality and had to be transported to the ships by four converted fishing trawlers, whose crews illegally bartered with the island population. Doctors were present on the ships, but not dentists, and the British refused to provide dental care. Incoming and outgoing post was censored.

Reuter departed Scapa Flow aboard the steamer *Bremen* on 13 December, handing over command of the fleet to the captain of the battleship *Bayern*. While in Germany he involved himself in political discussions and tried to gauge the situation. On 25 January 1919 he returned to Scapa Flow aboard the light cruiser *Regensburg*, which accompanied the battleship *Baden*. He initially commanded the fleet from his flagship *Friedrich der Grosse*, and was permitted to use a British fishing boat to visit the crews and deliver orders. Reuter was ill during his time at Scapa Flow and transferred his command to the light cruiser *Emden* on 25 March, reportedly because a group of revolutionary soldiers had repeatedly kept him awake at night.

The fate of the fleet was a subject of the Paris Peace Conference negotiations. The French and the Italians wanted a quarter of the ships each, while the British favored destroying them to avoid any other navy rivalling them. According to the Armistice terms the Germans were not permitted to destroy their ships, and the worry of a scuttling was present from the beginning, with Beatty and Admiral Sir Charles Madden preparing plans to seize the fleet in the event of a scuttling. Rear-Admiral Roger Keyes and Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Leveson, who commanded forces in charge of guarding the High Seas Fleet, both wished to seize the ships immediately and intern the crews on Nigg Island, but they were not given approval. As it turned out Reuter had already considered scuttling the fleet as early as January 1919. The outbreak of the German Civil War on 1 May 1919 further reinforced his fears, as he believed the conflict would lead to a resumption of war between the Allied powers and Germany, and that the fleet would be seized and used against Germany. The shifting of naval forces responsible for guarding the fleet heightened his suspicions, as he believed they were being sent to neutralize the remnants of the German navy.

Reuter's suspicions were accompanied by an increasingly rebellious attitude among the crews. The news of the civil war further inspired the revolutionary-minded crewmen, who wished to return to Germany, but were likewise worried about the potential usage of the ships against their comrades back home. The eruption of the conflict caused the regular shipments of food to end, and with provisions running low the situation rapidly deteriorated. When Vice-Admiral Sydney Fremantle took command on 18 May he inherited a precarious situation, with the starving crews throwing cans and rocks at patrolling boats and openly refusing contact. To alleviate the situation he managed to secure a shipment of food to the ships, but privately he believed he had to act quickly to seize the ships or else they would soon be scuttled. This was not unjustified, as Reuter had in fact ordered his officers to prepare the crews to scuttle on his order, which he planned to deliver on 31 May, the third anniversary of the Battle of Jutland. However, this was not to be.

## Seizure

While the Germans were planning the scuttling, the British were planning their own operation to thwart this. Fremantle knew that delivering a demand for surrender to Reuter would not be viable, as it would almost certainly lead immediately to a scuttling. He also knew that in such an event he did not have the sufficient forces available to prevent it. Fremantle instead hatched a daring plan to seize the ships forcefully at night while the German crews were resting, taking them by surprise and neutralizing their ability to scuttle the ships.

At the dead of night in the early hours of 27 May the British fleet quietly moved into position and small boats were sent with armed sailors to board each of the ships simultaneously. The first ship to be boarded was the battleship *Baden*. The crew of *Baden* had a lively party earlier that night and the drunken sailors offered little resistance to the British boarding party, who rounded them up on the deck. Investigating British sailors soon noticed, however, that Baden had been prepared for scuttling, as the portholes had already been loosened, the watertight doors left open, and holes bored through the bulkhead. By this point it was far too late to warn the other boarding parties, and soon the plan went awry. As British sailors approached the light cruiser *Dresden* they were spotted by German sailors on night watch, who turned their searchlights on them. Noticing the sailors armed with rifles and suspecting their intentions, the Germans began shouting at the them and quickly raised the alarm. Called to action, the crewmen rushed to scuttle the ship, and amidst the commotion a shot was fired by a British sailor, which struck and killed a German. The enraged German crewmen fought back and one of the British sailors was fatally struck in the head with a hammer. In the subsequent struggle two more German sailors aboard *Dresden* were killed, and the outnumbered British sailors eventually opted to flee, taking their injured comrade with them. *Dresden* thus became one of the ships to be successfully scuttled that night, and the crew were later apprehended after abandoning ship.

This was only the beginning, as the commotion was noticed by nearby ships, who subsequently alerted their crews and other ships nearby. This chain caused a disorganized attempt by the crews of most of the ships to scuttle their vessels. Reuter was awoken by the commotion, but a large raiding party was specifically sent to his boat and he was quickly apprehended and prevented from sending any signals. He only fully understood what had happened later that morning at daybreak. The situation on the ships varied, with some vessels falling to the British with little resistance, while others, particularly the crews known to be most revolutionary, opted to fight back. 38 of the 74 ships were able to initiate scuttling, but only 17 were successfully sunk, while the others were beached. In total 33 German sailors were killed, mostly from gunfire, accompanied by at least two cases of being pushed overboard. Five of the sailors were killed on the shore as they fled the ships after they were beached. Additionally, alongside the British fatality aboard *Dresden*, an additional British sailor was killed after he was pushed overboard during the boarding of the torpedo boat *V81*.

## Aftermath

The captured German sailors, numbering around 4,000, were treated as prisoners of war, accused of breaking the Armistice by scuttling ships. They were all eventually sent to Nigg Island, while the dead were buried ashore at Scapa Flow. The infuriated Fremantle had Reuter brought to him, where he, through the aid of a translator, denounced Reuter as "dishonorable" and accused him of ordering his sailors to fight back and scuttle the ships. As eyewitnesses report, Reuter did not respond, and he and his officers surrounding him simply looked on with defiant faces. Fremantle reportedly later changed his tone, believing the Germans had acted bravely. The imprisoned sailors were kept until March 1921, when they were released and given the choice of whether to settle in the Free Socialist Republic of Germany, the Allied-sponsored breakaway state of Baden-Württemberg, or the occupied Rhineland. According to official records most chose to depart for Socialist Germany.

The disastrous outcome of the seizure damaged Fremantle's reputation and he was relieved of command a week later, but he was later rehabilitated and promoted to a full admiral before retiring in 1928. Out of the 17 ships that were sunk, 2 of them were battleships (*König* & *Markgraf*), 3 were cruisers (*Dresden*, *Karlsruhe* & *Cöln*) and 12 were torpedo boats (*S32*, *S36*, *G38*, *S55*, *V45*, *V70, V78*, *V83*, *G104*, *B112*, *S131* & *S136*). Some of the beached ships also sustained damage, but none were unfixable. None of the battleships and cruisers have been salvaged for scrap thus far and all remain on the seabed, but all torpedo boats have been raised and scrapped. This work has been conducted by the entrepreneur Ernest Cox, who purchased the sunken ships to scrap them for his company. The event has entered the national mythos of the Free Socialist Republic of Germany, which upholds the defiance of the sailors as a revolutionary act, and reveres the killed sailors as martyrs. The 10 year anniversary of the event on 27 May 1929 was commemorated with a public holiday and a show of force by the Volksmarine.

The intact ships were ultimately largely kept by Britain, with a few being designated each to France, Italy, Japan and the United States, as well as Livonia, which received four ships that were famously caught up in 1927 in a controversial naval engagement with Germany known as the Bornholm Incident. The majority of the ships have since been scrapped or sunk as target practice.