The Last Days of the High Seas Fleet

From Mutiny to Scapa Flow by Nicholas Jellicoe 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. An absorbing, well-written account of a pivotal chapter of naval history.