Scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow

Scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow
Bayern sinking by the stern
Date 21 June 1919 Location Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom 58°54′N 3°11′W / 58.900°N 3.183°W / 58.900; -3.183 Result Majority of German fleet sunk
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Sydney Fremantle	Ludwig von Reuter
Units involved
First Battle Squadron	High Seas Fleet
Casualties and losses
None	9 killed 16 wounded

On 21 June 1919, shortly after the end of the First World War, the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet was scuttled by its sailors while held off the harbour of the British Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. The fleet was interned there under the terms of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 while negotiations took place over its fate. Fearing that either the British would seize the ships unilaterally or the German government at the time might reject the Treaty of Versailles and resume the war effort (in which case the ships could be used against Germany), Admiral Ludwig von Reuter decided to scuttle the fleet.^[1]

Intervening British guard ships were able to beach some of the ships, but 52 of the 74 interned vessels sank. Many of the wrecks were salvaged over the next two decades and were towed away for scrapping. Those that remain are popular diving sites and a source of low-background steel.^[2]