The story of the world’s largest wreck excavation operation conducted in Scapa Flow Bay in Orkney.
The book is about the man who brought out the German fleet that was sunk to the bottom of Skapa Flow Bay after the peace agreement that ended World War I. He bought back the rights to all the wrecks from the British Admiralty and proceeded with the work that all the experts said was impossible. He had no experience in such work, but over the course of eight years he conducted a massive mining operation. His name was Ernest Cox.
He introduced wreck mining on a massive scale by sealing their hulls and then pumping them with air to make them float away on their own. He also invented a method of building airlocks from the bottom of the wreck to the surface from welded tanks from which the bottoms were removed. These amazing structures, visible from the wreck’s excavation like the legs of a spider, also made it possible to enter the wreck dry under pressure.
Sinking of the Fleet (German High Seas)
The German fleet was interned at Scapa Flow after the signing of the armistice between France and Germany on November 11, 1918 which effectively ended World War I
Following Germany’s surrender in November 1918, most of the High Seas Fleet under Vice Admiral Ludwig von Reuter was interned at a British naval base on Skapa Flow in Orkney. The ships’ artillery was stripped of ammunition and locks. The crew was reduced to 200 officers and sailors for each major ship. The fleet was waiting for the decisions of the Treaty of Versailles. The Germans, unwilling to hand over the fleet to the victorious states, led to its sinking on June 21, 1919.
The sinking of the German fleet coincided suspiciously with the departure of the main British force outside Skapa Flow Bay. The British may have wanted to sink the German navy because after the Treaty of Versailles it would have been divided between Britain, France and Italy strengthening the navies of these countries to a large extent and having only a small impact on strengthening the British navy.
Battleships sank:
Kaiser
Kaiserin
Kronprinz Wilhelm
Heavy cruisers
Konig
Konig Albert
Grosser Kurfurst
Bayern
Prinzregent Luitpold
And the light cruisers Koln and Karlsruhe
and more than a dozen destroyers.
During the sinking operation, only one battleship Baden and three light cruisers and 18 destroyers were rescued from sinking by British personnel from surrounding ports. The Royal Navy was initially opposed to pulling out the wrecks but later sold the rights to them to Cox & Dunks, a company founded by Ernest Cox, which had previously scrapped ships in shipyards but not excavated them.
Ernest Coxs was born in 1883. After school, he began to specialize and founded a super innovative electrical installation company for the time. He thus began to work on White Island, where he learned about the many problems associated with shipping. In 1907, he married the daughter of a steel mill owner and joined the company as a Partner. In 1913 he founded Cox and Dunks with his wife’s cousin, who was a silent partner and financial backer of the investment. During World War I, they mined the metal for scrap metal, which was very expensive at the time due to massive production for the army. After World War I, he continued to work in the shipbuilding industry mainly specializing in stripping old ships for scrap. In 1924 he became interested in the wrecks of the German fleet sunk in Orkney
He purchased from the British Admiralty the right to excavate wrecks lying at the bottom of Skapa Flow and then excavated them with great success by towing them to shipyards to be cut for scrap. He developed a special technology for pumping air into the wrecks and thus succeeded in extracting powerful battleships and cruisers from the bottom of the gulf.
An interesting fact from the period of the fleet’s internment is that the ships were actually governed by councils of seamen rather than their commanders, a bit like what happened in many places in Germany at the end of World War I, which led in also led to the revolution in Russia. At one point, German Fleet Commander von Reuter had to ask permission from the British to move from his flagship Friedrich der Grosse to the light cruiser Emden where the Communists were not so rampant.
Skeleton crews of ships were further reduced and sailors were sent back to Germany also in the end there were only 2,000 left to take care of all the ships.
The beginning of the story was as follows
The Trust-on minesweeper commanded by Skipper William More was moored to the side of the light cruiser Emden at Skapa Flow in Orkney. All this happened before noon on June 21, 1919. It was an exceptionally beautiful, calm day for Orkney.
Suddenly, panic broke out among the crew of the ship to which the minesweeper was moored. Sailors were running around pointing aft and trying to communicate in poorly spoken English calling for help.
The crew of the minesweeper realized that Endem was plunging toward the stern. At one point, Admiral von Reuter appeared on board the German ship, along with officers dressed in gala uniforms. The admiral demanded that they be taken to the British flagship. As they sailed, a German officer reported that not only the Endem was sinking, but that the entire fleet was being sunk and asked that help be arranged for the crews.
British sailors noticed that the entire German fleet flew red flags which was their battle sign and which was against orders.
Attempts were made to contact the admiral to get orders on what to do next. The ships had no wireless communications. The orders, issued long-delayed, directed British crews to the destroyers in an attempt to rescue them. It was concluded that such a small force would not be able to stop the sinking of the largest ships. After a while, the sailors saw amazing scenes. One by one, all German ships began to capsize. We could hear the hiss of the air coming out and the ships plunged into the waters of the bay.
Surprisingly, it was on this day that the entire British squadron of warships left Skapa Flow at 9:00 a.m., leaving the anchorage virtually empty except for one old Vega destroyer and a few tugs.
That very day, at 9:00 a.m., a German squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Sydney Fremantle sailed from Skapa Flow together with the large ships under his command. Virtually all serviceable ships have sailed.
On the German ships, the bottom valves were opened and destroyed, and the anchor chains were welded in place. Any mounting screws smashed so that they could not be unscrewed. This made it difficult to tow sinking ships to the shallows.
In practice, the entire German fleet went down.
After the sinking of the German fleet, the world press accused the British of having specifically withdrawn the squadron guarding the interned ships.
Even patriotic Britons had to admit to themselves that it all looked like a strange coincidence. If it was a coincidence at all. Everything was perfectly prepared without the “knowledge” of the British. Admiral von Reuter and his officers were able to sink the ships so safely, without risking any accidents. Secondly, there was a prepared signal that was established among the Germans for the day of the sinking.
The terms of peace signed in 1918, in Article 23, stated that warships of the German fleet designated by the Allies and the United States of America would be disarmed and interned in a neutral port of either of the Allies and only crews to maintain the ships would remain on board. All ships designated by the agreement must be ready to leave German ports within seven days after the signing of peace. The routes of their passage will be determined by peacetime conditions.
The Germans accepted these terms and signed the peace agreement on November 11, 1918. They were a bit out of options, at that time the army and navy were in full-scale mutiny. Communist cells were on every ship. Many officers were murdered in their cabins or thrown overboard. Von Reuter was faced with the choice of whether he would accept command of the ship by a former stoker for whom he was to be only an assistant.
The Communist cell wanted to impose a stoker on him as fleet manager and von Reuter was to be his assistant. Under such tragic circumstances, there was no doubt that the peace could not be fully fulfilled except that the British navy may have completely starved the German fleet. The sailors of the fleet had to understand that if their wives and children were to have something to eat I had to disarm the ships and sail across the North Sea to the designated ports, but since none of them knew how to navigate they had to turn to officers for help.
The cadre refused to help until the sailors pledged to obey all technical orders without asking for some sort of confirmation from the red deputies. Thus, some discipline has been restored. Many people were sickened by the general filth and chaos that ensued at the end. Sailors were pleased to see the return of normalcy.
Each ship was led by officers whose positions could be called technical managers. The crew obeyed orders regarding course and speed but generally did what they wanted. She occupied the bridge, the best cabins, the mess hall and dressed as she wished.
The signal to sail – red communist flags were raised on every ship including the flagship Friedrich der Grosse, delaying the departure because the fleet could not sail under the red flags. The red flags were the internationally understood signal for the German fleet to launch an attack. This would have triggered a momentary decision to fire on the ships by the British fleet, which was to escort them to the anchorage.
The crews eventually agreed to raise German national flags in exchange for red ones, and the cruise began. Two hours later, the German fleet sailed first to the open ocean and then to the Scapa Flow base.
The Battle of Jutland which led to the above situation was fought on May 31 and June 1, 1916 in the North Sea near the Jutland Peninsula between the British Royal NAVY and the German Navy. It was the largest battle of World War I and the only clash of line fleets of powerful battleships and cruisers in the conflict. A total of 250 ships participated, with crews numbering more than 100,000. The German tactical plan was to split the British fleet into two teams and destroy them one by one. Admiral von Hipper tried to draw Admiral Sia David Beatty into an ambush. This one, after realizing this, turned back to his main force. In general, 14 British and 11 German ships were sunk during the battle. Both sides considered themselves Winners but it was nevertheless the Germans who retreated to the ports and the British were able to continue blockading German ports peacefully leading to the famine in Germany, which had a major impact on the end of the First World War.
That’s how the German fleet found its way to Scapa Flow.
The first British squadron, accompanied by destroyers, sailed from Scapa Flow at 9am. At 10:30 a.m., Von Reuter gave the pre-arranged signal to sink the fleet. 40 minutes later, at 11:10 a.m., the battleship Friedrich der Grosse capsized and sank. At the same time, other ships were flooded to the extent that they could not be recovered.
The British tried to force the German crews to return to the ships and close the bottom valves, among other methods of pressure such as sinking the lifeboats on which the sailors tried to escape from the ships. They also tried to quickly cut anchor chains or mooring lines and drag sinking ships to the underwear.
When the British squadron returned from the exercise and saw the sinking ships they tried to stop the sinking fleet or possibly tow them into shallow water. The bottom valves on the battleship Baden were successfully closed and most of the bulkheads were also closed. After starting the generators to get light and be able to turn on the pumps, the ship was secured so that, among other things, a copy of the secret instructions previously sent by Admiral von Rider to the officers was recovered, including a signal that would give the password to sink the ships.
In towns and villages in Orkney, as in the rest of the world, people began to wonder why the German fleet was left unattended so that the Germans could sink their ships. It was asked whether the British authorities were unaware of such risks?
Anyone who read the newspapers could read the statements of American experts who, when discussing the principles of the Peace of Paris, suggested that the German fleet should be sunk in deep water but smaller countries with smaller navies disagreed, demanding that the ships be divided among different fleets.
Such an action (splitting the fleet) would have strengthened the navies of France and Italy while having little effect on the strength of the Royal Navy, which is why it seemed that the British quietly made a deal with the Germans withdrew their fleet from Skapa Flow and allowed the German fleet to be sunk.
The British were fine with it.
