Gutter Sound
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Gutter Sound is an inlet of the vast anchorage of Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. Gutter Sound was the site of the mass-scuttling of the interned German Imperial High Seas Fleet in 1919.
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[edit] Background
When Germany accepted the armistice of November 11th, 1918, the Allies demanded that the virtual entirety of the Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet surrender in a British port, for the duration of the armistice. Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, the German officer in command of the fleet, complied.
74 ships of the High Seas Fleet were interned in Gutter Sound at Scapa Flow pending a decision on their future in the Treaty of Versailles. They arrived in November 1918. The Germans hauled down their flags and the British boarded the German ships to see if they had been disarmed, but they remained manned by German sailors for the intervening months. The Kaiserliche Marine's ranks had rebelled against their commanders at Wilhelmshaven, and order had broken down in Germany itself; the officers were furious that the undefeated High Seas Fleet should have to be interned in British waters and not at a neutral port. The German Navy and its hard-pressed sailors were only held together by forlorn hopes that the fleet could return to Germany after the peace was declared.
At Versailles, the Allied powers had already determined that Germany would be mostly demilitarized. This entailed splitting up the German fleet amongst the victors. As the peace talks dragged on through the months, Reuter became more sure that the British were planning to confiscate the ships, and intended to scuttle the fleet as soon as it was evident. The British warned the Germans not to scuttle their fleet, but they did not hint at or suggest that the Germans would retain it.
Reuter was not in contact with Germany itself and, acting on faulty intelligence from dated British newspapers, determined that the Versailles Treaty had been forced on Germany by ultimatum. Fortuitously, on 21 June 1919, the unsuspecting British Home Fleet left Scapa Flow on naval exercises. Reuter gave the order to scuttle the ships, and the effort was conducted quickly and efficiently, with no sailors drowned in the process.
[edit] Casualties
Fifty-three ships totaling more than 400,000 tons (more than twice as much tonnage as the combined losses in the Battle of Jutland) were successfully sunk, seventeen were towed into shallow water and beached, and four torpedo boats remained afloat. The effort marked the greatest tonnage of ships ever sunk in a day or in a single port. In trying to prevent the sinking, the British shot dead nine German sailors; they became the final casualties of World War I.
[edit] Battleships
Ten battleships were sunk: SMS Bayern, SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm, SMS Markgraf, SMS Großer Kurfürst, SMS Prinzregent Luitpold, SMS Kaiser, SMS Kaiserin, SMS Friedrich der Grosse, SMS König Albert and SMS König.
SMS Baden was saved from scuttling by beaching.
[edit] Battlecruisers
Five battlecruisers were sunk: SMS Hindenburg, SMS Derfflinger, SMS Seydlitz, SMS Moltke and SMS Von der Tann.
[edit] Light Cruisers
Four light cruisers were sunk: SMS Köln, SMS Karlsruhe, SMS Dresden, and SMS Brummer.
SMS Nürnberg, SMS Frankfurt, SMS Emden and SMS Bremse were beached.
[edit] Destroyers/Torpedo Boats
Thirty-four torpedo boat destroyers/torpedo boats were sunk and twelve were beached:
- First Flotilla (G 40, G 38, G 39, V 129, S 32)
- Second Flotilla (G 101, G 103, V 100, B 109, B 110, B 111, B 112)
- Third Flotilla (S 53, S 54, S 55, S 91, V 70, V 73, V 81, V 82)
- Sixth Flotilla (V 43, V 44, V 45, V 46, S 49, S 50, V 125, V 126, V 127, V 128, S 131)
- Seventh Flotilla (S 56, S 65, V 78, V 83, G 92, S 136, S 137, S 138, H 145, G 89)
- Seventeenth Half Flotilla (S 36, S 51, S 52).
Four remained afloat.
[edit] Aftermath
Ernest Cox bought and salvaged 43 of the High Seas Fleet ships in the 1920s, an achievement most people at the time thought impossible. He used a variety of techniques. He lifted the smaller ships with floating docks and hawsers. With the larger ships, culminating with the 28,000-ton SMS Hindenburg, he patched all holes and then pumped the hulls with compressed air to force out the water and make them float upside down. Eight of the wrecks are still in Scapa Flow, and are a popular target for divers. These wrecks are: Bremse, Brummer, Dresden, Cöln, Karlsruhe, König, Kronprinz Wilhelm, and Markgraf.
Commercial salvage work on the vessels ceased in the late 1970's and further salvage is no longer technically possible. There was some minor salvage work in the 1990's to remove some of the radiation free metal plating from the wreck of the 'Kronprinz Wilhelm'. [1], that has been used in space satellites and some medical equipment. Metal forged before the first nuclear detonation in 1945 does not contain any trace of radioactive isotopes that are now present in the atmosphere. The background radiation of these isotopes could exhibit an effect on fine sensors used in space. [2]
The eight vessels that remain are protected as maritime scheduled ancient monuments.
[edit] Diving the wrecks
Today the eight remaining wrecks, though deep, make for popular and interesting dives for skilled scuba divers.
Five are light cruisers:
- SMS Bremse - Gross Tonnage: 4500. Length: 140m.
- SMS Brummer - Gross Tonnage: 4500. Length: 140m. The SMS Brummer lies in 36m of water.
- SMS Cöln - Gross Tonnage: 4500. Length: 140m. The SMS Cöln lies in 36m of water.
- SMS Dresden - Gross Tonnage: 5531. Length: 156m. The SMS Dresden lies in 36m of water.
- SMS Karlsruhe - Size: Gross Tonnage: 5500. Length: 150m. The SMS Karlsruhe lies in a 25m of water.
Three are battleships:
- SMS König - Gross Tonnage: 26000. Length: 175m. The SMS König lies in 43m of water.
- SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm - Gross Tonnage: 26000. Length: 175m. The Kronprinz Wilhelm lies in 38m of water.
- SMS Markgraf - Gross Tonnage: 26000. Length: 175m. The Markgraf lies in 47m of water.
[edit] External references
- The Grand Scuttle: The sinking of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1982
