The Grand Scuttle: The Sinking of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919

by Dan Vander Vat (Author), Dan Van Der Vat (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1988

  $3.25

  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.

• Used

  Paperback
  2011

  $3.25

  The Grand Scuttle became a folk legend in both Germany and Britain. However, few people are aware that Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter became the only man in history to sink his own navy because of a misleading report in a British newspaper; that the Royal Navy guessed his intention but could do nothing to thwart it; that the sinking produced the last casualties and the last prisoners of the war; and that fragments of the Kaiser's fleet are probably on the moon. This is the remarkable story of the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow. It contains previously unused German archive material, eye-witness accounts and the recollections of survivors, as well as many contemporary photos which capture the awesome spectacle of the finest ships of the time being deliberately sunk by their own crew.