The Last Days of the High Seas Fleet

On 21 June 1919 the ships of the German High Seas Fleet--interned at Scapa Flow since the Armistice--began to founder taking their British custodians completely by surprise. In breach of agreed terms the fleet dramatically scuttled itself in a well-planned operation that consigned nearly half a million tons and 54 of 72 ships to the bottom of the sheltered anchorage in a gesture of Wagnerian proportions. Using new material from German sources and a host of eye-witness testimonies Nicholas Jellicoe meticulously reconstructs the circumstances of the scuttling itself and clearly lays out the aftermath for all parties involved.