First World War.com - Encyclopedia - Scapa Flow What's New Encyclopedia - Scapa Flow Scapa Flow was the designated anchorage of the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet during the First World War. A natural expanse of sea, Scapa Flow was enclosed by the Orkney Islands in Scotland and was capable of holding the Grand Fleet several times over. Sponsored Links When war began Scapa Flow was essentially undefended against the threat of German U-boat attacks. With the Grand Fleet newly relocated to the area from Portsmouth, Plymouth and Chatham high priority was therefore given to securing the area against German assault, the more so once it was discovered that a German submarine had managed to enter the Flow in November 1914. Thus initial defences were constructed with the sinking of some 21 blockships and the deployment of anti-submarine indicator nets laid at various depths and intended to entangle enemy submarines. Work continued with the laying of defensive minefields and, further supported by gun batteries, Scapa Flow was declared a safe base for the fleet in 1915. Nevertheless the Grand Fleet occasionally put to sea after scares emerged reporting the presence of German submarines in the area.

Grand Fleet commander Sir John Jellicoe later admitted that he lived in constant fear of the potential damage U-boats could wreak upon the Grand Fleet were they to enter Scapa Flow undetected. It was from Scapa Flow that the Grand Fleet put to sea at the end of May 1916 to engage the German High Seas Fleet in what was to comprise the last great fleet action between two of the world's great naval powers at Jutland . A tactical victory for Germany (which sunk more shipping) the British claimed the longer term success, since Kaiser Wilhelm II , shocked at the risk he had run of a German naval defeat with its inevitable disastrous consequences, thereafter barred his fleet from again engaging the British in fleet action. A matter of days after the action at Jutland, in June 1916 Lord Kitchener , the war minister and hero of Khartoum, visited Scapa Flow en route to Russia on a diplomatic mission. He and his staff subsequently boarded HMS Hampshire and put to sea through Hoy Sound. It then became clear that the defensive blockships had failed in their aim, for a German U-boat had successfully crossed the Flow and having reached Birsay further north, laid a mine.

It was this mine which struck HMS Hampshire on 5 June. Kitchener was killed, stunning the nation. With the armistice in November 1918 74 ships of the German Navy were instructed to proceed to Scapa Flow to surrender to the British. For some six months the German vessels remained at anchor, food and other supplies from Germany meanwhile running low. When the local German commander, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter , read details of the Allies' peace terms in The Times newspaper in June 1919, he resolved to scuttle the German fleet when the Grand Fleet were next out performing exercises. This he proceeded to do on 21 June, with 66 ships in all destroyed, the event spectated by a party of schoolchildren who had travelled to see the ships at Scapa Flow. Upon his eventual return to Germany von Reuter was regarded as a national hero, the saviour of the honour of the German Navy. In 1919 Scapa Flow lost its status as the fleet's main base to Rosyth in the Firth of Forth; it was however restored with the arrival of renewed war in 1939.

Sponsored Links Saturday, 22 August, 2009 Michael Duffy A Kite Balloon was an observation balloon controlled by a cable from the ground. - Did you know? BBC iWonder - Why was Orkney the perfect naval base in World War One? BBC iWonder Presented ByDr Sam WillisHistorian and broadcaster 1. The move to Orkney Presented ByDr Sam WillisHistorian and broadcaster Historically, the British Grand Fleet had been based on the south coast of England, ready for any attack from continental Europe. At the start of World War One, the decision was taken to relocate the main base to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland. The navy had to move tens of thousands of sailors and dozens of warships to Orkney. This was a huge operation that had a massive effect on the local economy and infrastructure, the remnants of which are still obvious today. Although the relocation would enable the British navy to respond more quickly to movements from the German fleet based in the Baltic Sea, the base at Scapa Flow had no defences against the newest naval threat, U-boats. 2. Building a secure base This content uses functionality that is not supported by your current browser.

Consider upgrading your browser. At 120 square miles area, Scapa Flow is one of the world’s largest natural harbours and is mostly enclosed by surrounding islands. After a German submarine entered the Flow in November 1914, underwater nets and sea level fences were installed at entrances and blockships were sunk to prevent access at shallow points. Minefields and high-tech hydrophones at sea and gun batteries on land completed the defences. By 1915, the navy believed that Scapa Flow was a safe base. 3. The Battle of Jutland Getty Images HMS Vanguard at the battle of Jutland. The decision to move the main naval base to Scapa Flow paid off in 1916, when the British were able to intercept the German fleet in the North Sea off the coast of Denmark, at Jutland. The Germans had been intending to shell the English coast and destroy the British fleet in sections. Instead they faced the British at full strength in the largest naval battle of the war. Admiral Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet was the most heavily armed force ever to put to sea. The Fleet contained 24 dreadnoughts, the most powerful type of warship.

The combined British naval forces numbered over 150 ships, to Germany's 100. It was vital for the full British fleet to engage the German fleet quickly. This was possible because Scapa Flow was now a major base, close enough to respond quickly to news of the German fleet’s position. The battle cost 8500 lives. 25 ships – weighing over 200,000 tonnes - were sunk. The British lost more ships but the German fleet did not challenge the British fleet for the remainder of the war as they did not want to risk losing a full scale battle. 4. Later war at sea Getty Images Battle of Jutland centenary marked with service in Orkney Islands | World news | The Guardian First world war Battle of Jutland centenary marked with service in Orkney Islands British and German dignitaries attend memorial for thousands who died in huge naval battle off coast of Denmark during first world war Nicola Sturgeon, David Cameron, Princess Anne, and German President Joachim Gauck, among others, attend the 100th anniversary of the battle of Jutland at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Scotland.

Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Press Association Tuesday 31 May 2016 07.41 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 31 May 2016 07.55 EDT Close This article is 7 months old David Cameron, Nicola Sturgeon and Princess Anne have joined descendants of those who fought at the battle of Jutland for a centenary service to remember the thousands who died in the largest naval battle of the first world war. British and German military bands played and crowds lined the street as the British prime minister arrived at St Magnus Cathedral on Orkney, with Scotland’s first minister. It is 100 years to the day since British and German ships engaged in a 36-hour conflict off the coast of Denmark, that led to devastating losses and changed the course of the war. Pinterest Princess Anne and Joachim Gauck pass the Weeping Window sculpture made of ceramic poppies. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Anne represented the royal family at the memorial after the Duke of Edinburgh cancelled his trip on doctor’s advice. She was accompanied by husband, Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, as vice-chairman of the Commonwealth war graves commission.

The German president, Joachim Gauck, was also in attendance. Guests, naval officers and descendants passed a display of thousands of ceramic poppies installed in tribute to the war as they arrived at the UK’s most northerly cathedral, in Kirkwall, which is hosting the ceremony because of the area’s links with the battle through the Scapa Flow base naval base. A second service will be held later at Lyness cemetery on the island of Hoy – the final resting place for more than 450 service personnel who died in the war, including sailors killed at Jutland. The cemetery stands close to Scapa Flow, from where the British grand fleet set out for the Jutland Bank to repel German forces attempting to break a British blockade. Almost 250 ships took part, creating a scale of battle that has not been seen since. Pinterest St Magnus Cathedral. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Both nations claimed victory: Germany because of the 6,094 British deaths compared to the 2,551 men it lost; Britain because it had seriously weakened the enemy’s naval capability.

There will also be a remembrance service at sea, where British and German naval representatives will scatter poppies and forget-me-nots – the German flower of remembrance – into the North Sea at Jutland Bank. A message from the Duke of Edinburgh was carried in the order of service for the commemorations. Prince Philip said: “There was, understandably, public disappointment with the result, but there is no doubt it was fought with the highest courage and determination under the most difficult and challenging circumstances. Pinterest Sailors pass the Weeping Window sculpture outside St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA “Whatever the judgment on the outcome, the commemoration of the centenary of the battle is focused on the endurance and gallantry of all those who took part, on both sides, and particularly on those who lost their lives. “War may be senseless and the battle of Jutland may have been inconclusive, but there can be no doubt that their sacrifice was not in vain.” Cameron, who gave a reading during the service, said in the order of service that it was a reminder that the first world war was not only fought in trenches.

He said: “The strategic importance of Scapa Flow cannot be overstated and it is therefore highly symbolic that today the stark and striking beauty of the Orkney Islands provides the backdrop to our commemorations.” He added: “It is very moving that we are joined today by the descendants of some of those who served at sea during the war. They have their own special reasons for wanting to be a part of today’s commemorations.

“We stand together with them to pay our profound respects to their ancestors and to ensure that the events of 100 years ago will be remembered and understood in 100 years’ time.” Ministry of Defence urged to take action amid fears that the recently discovered wreck of HMS Warrior will be pillaged Published: 18 Sep 2016 The heroism of the terrible encounter is embraced, but today’s navy symbolises years of decline Published: 4 Jun 2016 HMS Falmouth, veteran of the Battle of Jutland, recreated digitally as 3D image superimposed above present state of wreck Published: 19 Aug 2016 Memorial to John Cornwell, aged 16 when he died after HMS Chester came under fire during naval battle, given grade II listing Published: 26 May 2016 Diving Orkey & Scapa Flow, Scotland | Compare Dive Schools Tweet Scapa Flow is a sheltered body of water on the coast line of the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It is around 120 square miles, and is considered one of the world’s great natural harbours.

It is relatively shallow, with the sandy bottom not being deeper than 60 metres at any point, and the average depth being around 30 metres. The harbour has important historical links. It had been used as an anchorage site more than 1000 years ago by the Vikings, however its most famous use was during World War I when the bay was used by the British as a naval base. Previously the main British naval base were near the English Chanel, so they would be closer to their old enemies, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. However in the early 1900s due to the build-up of the German fleet it was decided that a northern base was necessary to control the entrances to the North Sea. The admiral of the Grand Fleet was worried about the possibility of submarine or destroyer attacks on the base, so in 1914 it was heavily reinforced with mines, concrete barriers and heavy artillery. Despite the reinforcements two attempts to enter the harbour were made by German U-boats, however the reinforcements proved to be successful and neither of the U-boats made it into the base.

The war ended on 11 November 1918, and the allied powers agreed that Germany’s U-boat fleet should be surrender to them without the possibility of getting them back, however they were unable to decide what to do with the surface fleet. They were all moved into Scapa Flow with the German crew still on board. On 21st June 1919 after waiting for 9 months, the German officer in command at Scapa Flow ordered his men to scuttle the fleet. This move was made to prevent the ships from falling into the hands of the British Royal Navy. The German sailors had spent months preparing the ships for this order by placing explosives in vulnerable parts of the ships, welding bulkhead doors open and throwing keys to important access points overboard. The Royal Navy tried their best to board the ships and prevent them from sinking however for most of the ships they were too late.

The British managed to save a battleship, 2 light cruisers and 18 destroyers but the remaining 52 ships sank to the bottom without any loss of life (9 German sailors were shot by British forces as they attempted to scuttle their ship, the last casualties of WW I) During WW II Scapa Flow was used again, because of its distance from German airfields. However the defenses from the Great War had mostly broken apart and offered little protection. In 1939 a German U-boat managed to get into the harbour and sank the HMS Royal Oak killing 833 sailors with it. The wreck is now a protected war grave. Winston Churchill ordered new blockships and mines were placed over the main entrances and coastal defense was installed in important areas. Churchill also ordered causeways to block the eastern entrance to Scapa Flow, built by Italian prisoners of war. These causeways were named ‘Churchill Barriers’ and are now used as a road access between the mainland to Burray and South Ronaldsay. Today Scapa Flow is frequently in the lists of top dive sites, and is considered one of the best locations in the world for wreck diving.

The main attractions are the seven remaining ships of the German fleet, although the blockships are also a popular dive. It is forbidden (unless you are a diver in the British armed forces) to dive the wrecks of the HMS Royal Oak and the HMS Vanguard which are considered war graves. Divers are allowed to enter the wrecks but are not allowed to recover any artifacts within 100 metres of any wreck. Due to the tides and currents over time, many pieces of pottery and glass bottles from the ships can be found in shallow waters and even on the beaches. Visibility can be as good as 20 metres but it can also drop to 2 metres or lower. If you want to dive there you must first get a permit from the Island Harbour Authorities, which is available through local dive centres. As most of the wrecks are located between 35 and 50 metres it is good to have some Deep Diver training, or even better, some technical diver training, which will offer you extended bottom time to explore these world class, historical ship wrecks. Photo Credit: ScapaFlowWrecks.com – Be sure to also check out the interactive 3D maps of each shipwreck on this website!

Where Britannia Ruled Waves in Two Wars | RealClearHistory Where Britannia Ruled Waves in Two Wars Samuel Chi , Historiat June 21, 2016 HOY, Orkney, Scotland - The MS Caribbean Princess steamed north from Belfast, toward the North Sea and into the northernmost waters of the British Isles. We finally reached port in the Orkney Islands, the windswept and seemingly treeless archipelago just north of Scotland. Orkney is about as Viking as it is British, as it has been a crossroads and a safe haven for travelers for thousands of years. Amidst Orkney's 70 islands is Scapa Flow, a body of water that became the focal point of naval warfare in both World Wars. Throughout its history, the Royal Navy had always operated out of ports on the English Channel, but in 1904, concerned by the rapid buildup of German Kaiser's High Seas Fleet, the Admiralty decided to construct a northern base to counter a potential menace. It turned out to be a prescient decision.

On May 31, 1916, the Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy met the High Seas Fleet in the Battle of Jutland, the biggest and only major naval battle of the First World War. Though the battle turned out to be a draw - or maybe even a narrow German victory - it proved to be a strategic triumph for Britain. Fearing the loss of his precious fleet, Kaiser Wilhelm II forbade the High Seas Fleet from leaving its base in Wilhelmshaven, where it remained until the end of the war. Scapa Flow Scapa Flow - 21 June 1919 Scapa Flow 21 June 1919 Scapa Flow was the designated anchorage of the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet during the First World War. A natural expanse of sea, Scapa Flow was enclosed by the Orkney Islands in Scotland and was capable of holding the Grand Fleet several times over. When war began Scapa Flow was essentially undefended against the threat of German U-boat attacks.

With the Grand Fleet newly relocated to the area from Portsmouth, Plymouth and Chatham high priority was therefore given to securing the area against German assault, the more so once it was discovered that a German submarine had managed to enter the Flow in November 1914. Thus initial defences were constructed with the sinking of some 21 blockships and the deployment of anti-submarine indicator nets laid at various depths and intended to entangle enemy submarines. Work continued with the laying of defensive minefields and, further supported by gun batteries, Scapa Flow was declared a safe base for the fleet in 1915. Nevertheless the Grand Fleet occasionally put to sea after scares emerged reporting the presence of German submarines in the area. Grand Fleet commander Sir John Jellicoe later admitted that he lived in constant fear of the potential damage U-boats could wreak upon the Grand Fleet were they to enter Scapa Flow undetected. It was from Scapa Flow that the Grand Fleet put to sea at the end of May 1916 to engage the German High Seas Fleet in what was to comprise the last great fleet action between two of the world's great naval powers at The Battle of Jutland.

A tactical victory for Germany (which sunk more shipping) the British claimed the longer term success, since Kaiser Wilhelm II, shocked at the risk he had run of a German naval defeat with its inevitable disastrous consequences, thereafter barred his fleet from again engaging the British in fleet action. A matter of days after the action at Jutland, in June 1916 Lord Kitchener, the war minister and hero of Khartoum, visited Scapa Flow en route to Russia on a diplomatic mission. He and his staff subsequently boarded HMS Hampshire and put to sea through Hoy Sound. It then became clear that the defensive blockships had failed in their aim, for a German U-boat had successfully crossed the Flow and having reached Birsay further north, laid a mine. It was this mine which struck HMS Hampshire on 5 June. Kitchener was killed, stunning the nation. With the armistice in November 1918 74 ships of the German Navy were instructed to proceed to Scapa Flow to surrender to the British. For some six months the German vessels remained at anchor, food and other supplies from Germany meanwhile running low.

When the local German commander, Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, read details of the Allies' peace terms in The Times newspaper in June 1919, he resolved to scuttle the German fleet when the Grand Fleet were next out performing exercises. This he proceeded to do on 21 June, with 66 ships in all destroyed, the event witnessed by a party of schoolchildren who had travelled to see the ships at Scapa Flow. Upon his eventual return to Germany von Reuter was regarded as a national hero, the saviour of the honour of the German Navy. In 1919 Scapa Flow lost its status as the fleet's main base to Rosyth in the Firth of Forth; it was however restored with the arrival of renewed war in 1939. Related Links: 8/18/2006 • Military History The Orkney Islands lie seven miles northeast of the town of John O’Groats, Scotland, separated from the mainland by the Pentland Firth. In the middle of the seven islands of Orkney is the large natural anchorage known as Scapa Flow.

The area is largely deserted today, apart from the odd oil tanker serving North Sea oil rigs or, every two or three years, warships of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting to conduct a joint exercise. But in its glory days, the Flow served as the main base for Britain’s battle fleet during two world wars. Just a few fathoms below Scapa Flow’s dark surface lie the remains of another navy: four battleships and four light cruisers of the Imperial German High Seas Fleet, scuttled by their own crews 80 years ago this month in the largest act of self-destruction in naval history. The fleet that died by its own hand on that first summer day of 1919 was the product of one of history’s greatest strategic blunders. Between 1898 and 1914, a sudden surge of shipbuilding fervor expanded the Imperial German Navy from a largely coastal force to the second largest fleet in the world, equipped with some of the finest warships afloat. Its creator was Captain Alfred von Tirpitz, who in 1894 wrote a thesis for the Naval Supreme Command, in which he argued for a strong fleet.

The document might have been merely filed and forgotten, had it not come to the attention of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The German emperor loved ships. He had been consumed with envy when he attended his grandmother Queen Victoria’s review of the Royal Navy during the celebration of her Golden Jubilee in 1887. Wilhelm also had visions of a German empire that extended overseas, like those of Britain and France. To build such a colonial and commercial empire required a deep-water fleet, capable of fighting full-scale battles anywhere on the globe. When Chancellor Otto von Bismarck forged a united German nation in 1871, he saw no use for a large navy. Germany’s future, he concluded, logically lay on the European continent, guarded by the most modern army in the world. Crown Prince Wilhelm and the ‘Iron Chancellor’ soon clashed over their nation’s geopolitical role. Then, in 1890, the young Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had been on the throne for barely a year, forced Bismarck to resign. With the old chancellor’s restraining hand gone, the kaiser turned his attention to realizing his great dream of a powerful navy — a dream for which Tirpitz became the chief architect.

Tirpitz put forward his ‘risk theory,’ arguing that it was not necessary for the German fleet to defeat a rival power in battle but simply to be capable of inflicting enough serious damage to cripple or disrupt the enemy’s supremacy at sea. Therefore, the mere existence of a powerful fleet would give Germany a degree of control over her rival. Although Tirpitz did not name Britain in his discourse, there could be no doubt that she was the rival naval power to which he referred. Constructing the navy that the kaiser and Tirpitz desired was an immense task, although starting from scratch did have its advantages. In Britain, ships had to be designed and built within the limiting dimensions of existing docks. The new docks constructed in Germany were more up-to-date, allowing for the construction of larger-beamed and stronger warships. And so Germany embarked on a course to end more than a century of naval supremacy Britain had enjoyed since the days of Horatio Nelson. Wilhelm and Tirpitz, however, had not bargained on Britain’s determination to maintain that dominance, nor did they give weighty consideration to what might happen if Britain were aroused from her traditional isolation from Continental affairs.

They assumed that Britain and Russia, who had opposing interests in the Far East, would never work together. France was also ruled out, because of her centuries of rivalry with Britain — and because of her alliance with Russia. The Germans also seriously misjudged the industrial might available to Britain and her empire as well as the natural advantage of her centuries of naval experience. Britain had long mistrusted Germany but was willing to accept her as the foremost land power on the Continent. The alteration in the balance of power caused by the naval race, however, did much to end British noninvolvement in European affairs — and not to Germany’s advantage. A treaty with the small but growing naval power of Japan in 1902 gave Britain an ally to counter German colonial ambitions in the Far East. In 1905, Britain, alarmed by German naval expansion, reached an understanding, or Entente Cordiale, with France. In 1907, Britain and Russia set aside their long-standing rivalry over India and Persia to form a triple alliance with France against potential German aggression.

Kaiser Wilhelm was compelled to offset that powerful block by forging his own alliances with Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Turkey, Bulgaria and a half-hearted Italy — all far weaker partners. Thus, the German folly of starting a naval arms race can be seen as one of the principal causes of World War I. On the eve of war in July 1914, Britain had 43 battleships, with 13 more being built, while Germany had 31, with 10 more under construction. Those figures did not tell the whole story, however. Of Britain’s capital ships, 24 were of the modern dreadnought design, whereas Germany had only 13 such ships in commission. Ship for ship, there was little to choose between them. The battleships of the Royal Navy generally carried bigger guns, were faster and had greater range. The German ships had more watertight compartments, better armor and superior fire control. In regard to cruisers, the workhorses of the fleets, Britain had a healthy lead — 70 to Germany’s 38.

Perhaps more important, while the Royal Navy covered the Channel, North Sea and Atlantic Ocean, the French navy took over responsibility for the Mediterranean Sea, effectively neutralizing the small navies of Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Italy (the last of which would go over to the Allied side in May 1915). It soon became apparent to the German naval command that it had no hope of winning a full-scale encounter with Britain’s Grand Fleet. The Germans knew that the British would use their standard tactic of blockading the coast, so they planned to gain local supremacy by destroying isolated squadrons engaged in that blockade. In time, they hoped, the Royal Navy’s lead would be reduced, to the point where the High Seas Fleet could square off with the Grand Fleet on even terms. Again, however, the Germans’ assumptions were faulty. The British did impose a wartime blockade, but it was not the close blockade they had used so often in the past. Instead, the Royal Navy opted for a distant blockade, covering the Channel and the gap between Norway and the Orkney Islands. That gave the British the time to concentrate their naval forces in response to any reported threat from the German fleet.

Although German cruisers and commerce raiders displayed great daring and skill in the early months of the war, by mid-1915 Germany’s regular warships overseas had been either sunk or driven back into their home ports. On only one occasion did the two great fleets meet in battle. Commencing on May 31, it was an epic but inconclusive affair, fought in overcast weather with hundreds of ships adding thick, acrid smoke from their funnels and guns to the fog of battle. The Germans called it the Battle of the Skagerrak, while the British called it Jutland. The German commanders displayed more nerve than their opponents during the battle. On two occasions, they extricated their fleet from dangerous situations. It can also be said, however, that they were allowed to escape because of poor British communications and because of Admiral Lord John Jellicoe’s fear of torpedo attacks against his massed battleships. As Winston Churchill indicated afterward, the overly cautious Jellicoe and the impulsive Admiral Sir David Beatty were the only men on either side who could have lost the war in an afternoon.

After disengaging and returning home on June 1, the Germans claimed a tactical victory because more British ships had been sunk. The Grand Fleet had indeed lost the well-armed but brittle battle cruisers Invincible, Indefatigable and Queen Mary, which prompted Beatty to remark, ‘There’s something wrong with our bloody ships.’ The British battle cruiser commander’s own flagship, Lion, was only saved from being blown up when wounded Royal Marine Major Francis Harvey ordered the burning magazine of ‘Q’ turret to be flooded, for which he was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. The Grand Fleet also lost four cruisers and seven destroyers, representing a loss of 111,000 tons or 8.84 percent of its strength. A total of 6,784 Royal Navy men were killed, wounded or captured. In comparison, the High Seas Fleet lost the battle cruiser Lützow, the pre-dreadnought battleship Pommern, four cruisers and four destroyers. That amounted to 62,000 tons, or 6.79 percent of its strength, while 3,058 German seamen were killed or wounded.

Based on those statistics, the German tactical claim would appear just, but the battle did not alter the strategic picture at all. In spite of his losses, when Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet returned to Scapa Flow, he was able to signal the Admiralty that he could return to sea on four hours’ notice. His German counterpart, Admiral Reinhard Scheer, told the kaiser upon returning to Wilhelmshaven that his fleet would not be ready for sea until mid-August. That was mainly due to the heavy damage inflicted on many of the German ships, a factor that is not reflected in the figures regarding warships sunk. The battle cruiser Seydlitz, for example, was struck by 22 large-caliber shells and one torpedo, but she managed to limp home with her bows practically awash. Her very survival was a tribute to her builders at Hamburg and to the skill of her crew. An American newspaperman succinctly summed up the battle’s strategic outcome when he reported, ‘The German Fleet has assaulted its jailer, but it is still in jail.’ After Jutland, the German navy turned its attention to unrestricted submarine warfare — a clear admission that the High Seas Fleet had failed to achieve its objective.

Submarine warfare, like General Alfred von Schlieffen’s plan to invade France via Belgium, was intended as a shortcut to victory. It, too, failed, because British Prime Minister David Lloyd George insisted, against the advice of his admirals, that the Royal Navy adopt the convoy system. On the other hand, German submarine attacks on neutral shipping brought the United States into the war on April 6, 1917. Despite the capitulation of revolution-wracked Russia, Germany still faced an overwhelmingly strong coalition with a new Allied power in mid-1917. By August 1918, the German army was reaching the end of its endurance, but the High Seas Fleet was virtually intact. The admirals still plotted to lure the Grand Fleet into a last great battle — one that they might not win, but which they hoped would show German resolve to fight on and which, in turn, might influence any peace negotiations to their advantage. When Admiral Franz von Hipper led the High Seas Fleet out to sea on October 29, it was materially stronger than it had been at Jutland.

The crewmen, however, saw no future in this defiant gesture, which took little account of their lives, and a mutiny broke out. Hipper managed to restore a brittle discipline, but with unrest still simmering, he prudently abandoned the operation. Putting the mutiny’s leaders in irons only served to aggravate the already deteriorating morale among the ranks. Once they were back in port, unrest spread throughout the fleet. In November, it was all over. Communist uprisings in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven resulted in control of the fleet passing into the hands of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils. Chaos pervaded the country. Entire divisions at the front refused to fight, and many ships were seen raising the Socialist revolutionary red flag. The government promised the mutineers that the fleet would not be sent out on any sacrificial sorties, essentially rendering its powerful warships impotent. On November 11, 1918, Germany signed an armistice, ending World War I. In Article XIII of the armistice agreement, the Allied naval council decreed that the German fleet should be confined to port under their supervision.

The victorious Allies also demanded that 10 battleships, six battle cruisers, eight cruisers, 50 destroyers — all ships of the most modern type — and the entire submarine fleet be handed over for internment. The designated surface vessels were to be dismantled so that they carried no armament and then interned in neutral ports. No neutral country could be found that was willing to play host to them, however. The Allies only approached Spain on the matter, and she refused. German efforts to find a haven for their commandeered warships, though more extensive, proved to be equally fruitless. The Allied council then came to the decision that the only safe place for such a large force was Scapa Flow, where it could be watched by the Grand Fleet. The Germans were told that the ships designated for internment must be ready to sail on November 18. If they failed to comply, the Allies would seize Heligoland and sink the ships in their ports. Any renewal of hostilities would be disastrous for Germany, but few men in the fleet believed that their ships would be made ready in time to meet the deadline.

The Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils had eroded the officers’ authority, while the crews had been depleted by desertions and an influenza epidemic. Preparations did not merely involve steaming to Scapa Flow. Armaments had to be removed or rendered useless. It was no easy task to remove the breechblocks from 15-inch guns. Much of that expensive equipment was torn or burned out and dumped on the quays or simply cast overboard. Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter was requested, rather than ordered, to carry out the unenviable task of leading the fleet into internment. He wrote in a report that ‘personal feelings had to step to the rear.’ However repugnant the mission, he was still serving his country. Reuter was already considering the option of sinking the fleet, however, in anticipation of any British action that would exceed the articles of the armistice. ‘Any betrayal would give us back our freedom of action,’ he wrote. ‘We could do what we liked with our ships, we could also sink them.’ Reuter took command on November 18. The High Seas Fleet departed on the 19th and was ready to meet the Allied escorts on the 21st.

Rear Admiral Hugo Meurer, who had negotiated the details of internment, was told by Beatty that ‘a sufficient force will meet the German ships.’ That’sufficient force’ was composed of the Grand Fleet (commanded by Beatty since he had succeeded Jellicoe in November 1916), an American battleship squadron and representative vessels from the other Allied navies — 250 warships in all. At 8:30 a.m. on November 21, as the High Seas Fleet steamed up in line-astern formation in accordance with Beatty’s orders, ‘Action Stations’ was sounded aboard the British ships. Seamen rushed to their stations, rigged in full war kit. The great guns of the capital ships were not loaded, but ammunition had been brought up from the magazines. Gun directors were laid on and ranges passed, just in case. Lieutenant John Ouvry on the light cruiser Inconstant wrote in his diary: ‘The excitement was of course intense as it was impossible to tell whether the Hun had something up his sleeve for us or not. It seemed too wonderful for an extremely powerful fleet to give themselves up without a blow.’ A haze descended over the area that morning, reducing visibility.

‘Thus heaven conferred a certain mantle on our shame in the form of a light veil of mist,’ wrote Reuter, ‘and the most tremendous tragedy ever enacted at sea was thereby softened to the view.’ It was a rare expression of emotion from the usually stoic Prussian admiral. A lieutenant aboard the U.S. Navy battleship New York described the procession from his perspective: ‘The tiny light cruiser Cardiff, towing a kite balloon, leads the great German battle-cruiser Seydlitz, at the head of her column, between our lines. On they pass — Derfflinger, Von der Tann, Hindenburg, Moltke — as if on review. The low sun glances from their shabby sides. Their huge guns, motionless, are trained fore and aft. It is the sight of our dreams, a sight for kings! Those long, low, sleek-looking monsters, which we had pictured ablaze with spouting flame and fury, steaming like peaceful merchantmen on a calm sea.

The long line of battleships, led by Friedrich der Grosse, flying the flag of Admiral von Reuter, commanding the whole force, König Albert, Kaiser, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kaiserin, Bayern, Markgraf, Prinz Regent Luitpold, and Grosser Kürfurst followed in formation — powerful to look at, dangerous in battle, pitiful in surrender….’ Sensing the humiliation of his former adversaries but displaying little compassion for them, Admiral Beatty described the sight with a measure of disappointment and contempt: ‘We never expected that the last time we should see them as a great force would be when they were being shepherded, like a flock of sheep, by the Grand Fleet. It was a pitiable sight; in fact I should say it was a horrible sight….’ The ships were escorted to the Firth of Forth, where they were inspected by boarding parties. At sunset, the German ensigns were lowered, and Beatty ordered that they were not to be raised again. A few days later, all the ships were moved to Scapa Flow. By December 13, the captive fleet’s manpower had been reduced to caretaker scale.

Of the 20,000 men who had brought the ships into internment, only 4,565 remained. Radios were forbidden on the ships, and Reuter and his officers were forced to rely on four-day-old British newspapers to keep up with current events. For months on end the crews experienced boredom in their uncomfortable steel homes. The ships deteriorated through neglect. Discipline was almost nonexistent, although Reuter managed to have the worst agitators sent home. The Allies continued to argue about the fleet’s fate. The British, naturally, did not want the ships given to other powers, even their allies. Reuter became bitter over his government’s apparent lack of effort to salvage part of the fleet. ‘It was quite clear to me that I should be left entirely to my own devices,’ he wrote. ‘I had refused orders and instructions because I alone and nobody at home could assess and appreciate the situation in the Internment Formation.’ Pathetic as the German crewmen had seemed to the British officers who first boarded their ships, the crew’s mood began to change in the months that followed.

Irritated by sightseers frequently passing by in small boats, gaping at the Germans like animals in a zoo, the crewmen’s general attitude turned from dejection to resentful defiance. On May 31, 1919, they celebrated the third anniversary of the Battle of the Skagerrak — and disobeyed Beatty’s specific order — by hoisting the German naval ensign along with the revolutionary red flag up their yardarms. Then, in June, Reuter learned that the German government had refused to ratify the naval terms of the Treaty of Versailles, even as the November 1918 armistice was nearing its expiration date. At the same time, rumors spread of a British plot to seize the ships. At that point, Reuter decided to scuttle the fleet. Only news of his country’s decision to accept the peace terms would reverse his decision. The British were well aware of the possibility of scuttling, but under the internment agreement they were not allowed to post armed guards on the German ships. Reuter kept his plans secret to all but a few key officers and men.

On June 20, however, he heard that crewmen aboard two of the battleships had learned of his secret plan. Then, on that same evening, he read in a June 16 edition of the London Times that the Allies had given Germany an ultimatum: Accept the peace terms by June 21 or hostilities would be renewed. What Reuter did not know was that on the same day he was reading his four-day-old newspaper, his government had accepted the armistice terms, the deadline for which had in any case been extended to June 23. The weather was unusually good on the morning of June 21 — not the usual combination of fog and rain. The sea was calm and the sky cloudless. Aboard the light cruiser Emden, which was then serving as his flagship, Reuter came up on deck wearing his full-dress uniform, with medals. Deep in thought, he paced up and down the quarterdeck.

Just before 10 a.m., his chief of staff delivered an oral report informing him that the five British battleships that had guarded the Germans for so many months had left Scapa Flow — as luck would have it, the battle squadron had gone to conduct an exercise at sea earlier that morning. Shortly after receiving that news, Reuter had the code flags ‘D.G.’ raised on Emden, alerting his fleet to stand by for further signals. Then, at 10:20, more flags went up, communicating the message: ‘Make Paragraph II. Acknowledge.’ That harmless-looking order was in fact the prearranged signal for the entire High Seas Fleet to prepare to scuttle its ships. When his ships confirmed that his order was being carried out, Reuter sent up another signal: ‘Condition Z — scuttle!’ Reuter then gave Emden‘s captain his personal permission to do the same. German naval ensigns shot up the masts, while belowdecks seacocks and condenser intake valves were opened. At 12:16 p.m., the battleship Friedrich der Grosse turned over and sank, the first ship to go down.

‘It was a marvelous sight,’ wrote a German destroyer officer. ‘All over the vast bay ships were in various stages of sinking.’ The handful of British boats and destroyers present steamed from one battleship to another, arbitrarily loosing small-arms fire in helpless frustration. Markgraf‘s captain and nine German sailors were killed in the fusillade; 16 were wounded. The British battleships, whose commander had learned of the scuttling, rushed back from maneuvers at 12:20 but could do nothing to stop 15 of the 16 German capital ships from going down. Only Baden was beached and subsequently refloated. The German crews took to lifeboats, from which they were picked up. Afterward they were placed on board the British battleships and were classified and treated as prisoners of war. Of the once-proud German High Seas Fleet, a grand total of 52 out of 70 ships went to the bottom. Even today parts of the Imperial German Navy remain on the bottom of Scapa Flow, having defied all attempts to raise them. The British press roared its contempt at what it regarded as a new act of perfidy by a treacherous enemy.

To numerous German naval officers, Reuter had achieved a strange victory in defeat. ‘I rejoice over the sinking of the German fleet in Scapa Flow,’ wrote Admiral Scheer. ‘The stain of surrender has been wiped out from the escutcheon of the German Fleet. The sinking of the ships has proved that the spirit of the fleet is not dead. This last act is true of the best traditions of the German navy.’ Reuter’s gesture of defiance took some of the ignominy from the mutiny of 1918. Both of those final acts of World War I, however, would be very much on the minds of the next generation of German admirals as they laid plans to redeem the High Seas Fleet’s honor under a new empire — the Third Reich of Adolf Hitler. This article was written by Mark T. Simmons and originally appeared in the June 1999 issue of Military History magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Military History magazine today! Scapa Flow's Wartime Heritage Discover the wartime heritage of Scapa Flow Introduction Scapa Flow is a natural harbour which has been used over many centuries, from the Viking fleet of King Haokon in the 13th Century, to the present day.

It formed an important northern base for the British fleets in both world wars. World War I During the first World War, the British Grand Fleet used Scapa Flow as a northern base. After a German U-Boat managed to enter the Flow early in the war, merchant ships were sent as blockships in strategic places and anti-submarine nets were put in place. From this base, vessels from the fleet made sweeps in search of the enemy. In 1916, the British Grand Fleet left to fight in the Battle of Jutland. 24 battleships and 3 battlecruisers, plus destroyers and scouting cruisers set out under the command of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. They met the German High Seas Fleet in battle. There was much damage wrought, with many thousands of men losing their lives, but both sides believed they had won. However, after the battle, the Kaiser's fleet never went to sea again. In June 1916, Lord Kitchener, the Minister of War, arrived in Scapa Flow to visit Admiral Jellicoe and hear his account of the Battle of Jutland, Kitchener left on board the Hampshire, and sailed up the west coast of Orkney.

Near Birsay, the Hampshire struck a mine, and only 12 men out of 665 survived. On 1926, money was raised by public subscription to erect the Kitchener Memorial at Marwick Head near Birsay. After the armistice, seventy-four ships of the German High Seas Fleet were ordered into Scapa Flow to be interned. They arrived in November 1918, and stayed there for 10 months. During this time, they became a tourist attraction, with boat trips to see them. By June 1919, Rear Admiral von Reuter, the German Officer in command at Scapa Flow, knew that Germany would have to accept surrender terms. When the main part of the British Fleet left the flow for exercises he gave the order for the German fleet to be scuttled. Most of the scuttled fleet did not stay iwhere they had sunk. Those that were beached were removed almost immediately. In the 1920s, the firm Cox & Douglas began salvage operations, lifting many of the ships. This salvage continued until the advent of the Second World War, and only eight scuttled ships now remain in the Flow.

The first of the German Fleet to sink after the order to scuttle was issued was the Friedrich der Grosse - the flagship of the Jutland Fleet. This battleship sank beneath the surface at 12:16pm. The British managed to save a few of the German ships by towing them towards shore where they settled in the shallow water. At 5pm on 21 June 1919, the last ship, the Hindenberg, went under. By this time the surface of Scapa Flow was covered in oil and debris. The environmental damage caused by the scuttling was considerable. On June 21st 1919, a party of schoolchildren from the town of Stromness were being taken on a trip around Scapa Flow to view the German Fleet. Little did they know when they left home that day what they were to witness.

The following is a piece written by one of the children, James Taylor, one of the pupils who witnessed the scuttling: "On Saturday June 21st 1919, I rose very early, as it would never do to be late for a school treat which was to take the form of a cruise on the Flying Kestrel to visit the surrendered German Fleet. The though of sailing up to them made us boys almost sick with excitement! At long last we came face to face with the Fleet. Their decks were lined with German sailors who....did not seem too pleased to see us. Suddenly without any warning and almost simultaneously these huge vessels began to list over to port or starboard; some heeled over and plunged headlong, their sterns lifted high out of the water. Out of the vents rushed steam and oil and air with a dreadful roaring hiss. And as we watched, awestruck and silent, the sea became littered for miles round with boats and hammocks, lifebelts and chests....and among it all hundreds of men struggling for their lives.

As we drew away from this nightmare scene we watched the last great battleship slide down with keel upturned like some monstrous whale." The crew of a German destroyer abandon ship as the vessel sinks. Remains of a Blockship. The "Hampshire", of the British Grand Fleet. The "Kronprinz Wilhelm", of the German High Seas Fleet. World War II During World War II, the Home Fleet was based at Scapa Flow, from where it helped to protect the Arctic Convoys to Murmansk. In October, 1939, only a month after war had been declared, an assault on Scapa Flow was planned using the U-Boat U-47, commanded by Lieutenant Günther Prien. On the night of October 13th, the U-Boat managed to pass between the Orkney Mainland and Lamb Holm into Scapa Flow, between two northerly blockships. Just after midnight HMS Royal Oak was sighted in Scapa Bay. Torpedoes were fired, and a hole 30 feet in diameter was made in the hull, and she capsized. Of the crew of 1400 men, 833 lost their lives.

HMS Royal Oak is a protected war grave, and each year on the anniversary of the sinking, there are memorial services. Following this event, Scapa Flow became heavily defended with anti-aircraft batteries, minefields and further blockships. In 1940, Winston Churchill gave orders that the defences on the eastern side of Scapa Flow were to be improved by setting concrete blocks between islands to make causeways. These four causeways are known as the Churchill Barriers (picture, left) Italian POWs were used to build the barriers. They were unhappy, declaring this to be war work, and thus against the Geneva Convention, but were persuaded that the primary purpose of the barriers was to provide an easy means of communication by road for the people living in the south parishes. The Italian prisoners built a beautiful 'Italian Chapel' on Lamb Holm for their worship, which can still be visited today. The Scapa Flow Vistor Centre is housed in the former oil pumping station at the Lyness Naval Base on Hoy. Here are housed many exhibits from both World Wars. The Royal Oak

Question: Which expanse of sea in the Orkney Islands was the main base of the British Grand Fleet in World War I?
Answer: Scapa Flow