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

The answer is - to the bottom of Scapa Floe. This book covers one of the least known and written about aspects of WWI, the fate of the German High Seas Fleet after the armistice was put into effect on November 11, 1918. Prior to reading this book about all I knew was that the fleet had been taken to the British naval base of Scapa Floe and had somehow managed to scuttle itself, leaving the British with a large mess on their hands. The hows and whys of the scuttling are covered in a very even-handed manner. Indeed, one comes to sympathize with the German Admiral, in command of the once proud and mighty fleet, now charged with preventing it from falling into the hands of the British while having to deal with mutinous crews, minimal supplies, and constant British vigilence.The Story leading up to the scuttle itself is told in good detail. However, the extensive salvage operations carried out by the British after the event are compressed into only a few pages. This is the weakest portion of the book, but the part that could be the most interesting. Unfortunately, the reader is mostly left to guess about how the British cleared up the wrecks, a process which took almost twenty years and is still not really complete. There are a few pictures of the salvage operations added seemingly as an afterthought. However, since the book is about the events leading up to the actual scuttling itself this is not a major problem, merely a matter of personal preference. All in all this book is a good value and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in WWI naval warfare.

"The Grand Scuttle", by Dan Van Der Vet, is an excellent book (on one of those obscure topics) that was a delight to find. It is well-thought-out and and generally well-researched. It is well-written and a strikes a good balance between British and German points of view. While some reviews fault it for not devoting more space to the subsequent salvage of the sunken German warships, I found that portion of Van Der Vet's book just about right. Moreover, I'd already read "Cox's Navy" by Tony Booth (available on this website) which is a good read for those wanting more information about the salvage part of the story. As an aside, I was slightly surprised to find no mention of some bits of interesting circa 1919 U. S Navy source material, that I enjoyed using in my (as Bob Garland) "Derfflinger," a novel (also available on this website) whose back-story involves the 1919 scuttling of the German fleet.

Author gives a good review of the perplexing position of the German seaman and officers prior to the armesis. Enjoyed the enclosed photos. A must read for history buffs.

Great read

Scapa Flow: Unknown today but once it held 2 navies

Great book

Great book and wonderful history. Highly recommended.

Good story! Part I describes the pre-1914 Anglo - German naval armaments race in battleships. Part II discusses the timidly of the German naval leadership, starting with the Kaiser, in refusing to go out and fight the Royal Navy. It also discusses the U-boat campaign, which I guess is necessary for a complete discussion of the naval war but which I thought was irrelevant to the fleet surrender / internment and scuttling.Part III then discusses the naval mutinies, the naval terms of Article XXIII of the November 1918 Armistice, and the sailing of the main fleet of battleships, battlecruisers, and many destroyers to the Firth of Forth and then on to Scapa Flow. Only the last 60 pages or so of the book describe the actual scuttling and its consequences.Another very good book on the WW I German navy is “From Imperial Splendor to Internment: The German Navy in the First World War” (2013) by Wolz.

This was a very well constructed account of the scuttling of the German Fleet. I did not know about this. The best aspect of this book for me was the WW1 political background provided in the early chapters and the description of the Battle of Jutland.The interment of the German Fleet and its eventual scuttle was not very exciting to read as it seems boredom of the German sailors was their main problem and the scuttle was not described in dramatic detail.It was good reading for me not being very well read in war history.

This book is a fairly comprehensive history of the events that surround the Scuttle that took place in Scapa. As an amateur diver, too senior now to attempt a dive there, I have read three books now on the subject and this is, for me the best, so far. i recommend this book for all enthusiastic would be divers to read.

Just started reading the book very interesting read

Great historical story and very well researched I really enjoyed this one.

We all know the history of the sinking of the greater part of the german high seas fleet. Here we see the intricate details of the politics which after a breakdown in political protocol over a seven month period led to the decision of the german admiral to scuttle his fleet. Would certainly recommend.