PDC 70 BOOK THE GRAND SCUTTLE

The Grand Scuttle

At Scapa Flow on 21 June 1919, there occurred a very unusual event in naval history. The German Admiral in charge of 74 of his countries warships ordered that the fleet be scuttled. The High Sees Fleet of the German Royal Navy was one of the most formidable ever built, yet 52 of the ships were deliberately sent to the bottom of the British Grand Fleet's principal anchorage at Orkney. The book reports that Admiral Ludwig von Reuter became the only man in history to sink his own navy on the strength of a misleading report in a four-day old British newspaper; the Royal Navy guessed his intention but could do nothing about it; the sinking produced the last casualties and the last prisoners of the war. The author looks at the events leading up to and including the scuttling.

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