surrender german high sea fleet (1 resultados)

Manuscript, 2 leaves in pencil on ruled paper, second leaf torn in half, slightly creased and browned. An eyewitness record of Operation ZZ. On the morning of 21 November 1918, ten days after the Armistice, the German High Seas Fleet sailed into captivity. Led by the light cruiser HMS Cardiff, 70 German warships (nine battleships, five battlecruisers, seven light cruisers, and 49 destroyers) were met by over 370 Allied vessels and escorted in two flanking columns into the Firth of Forth, the largest assembly of naval power the world had ever seen. Admiral Hipper, commander of the German fleet, refused to participate in the surrender and delegated it to Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter. That evening, Admiral Beatty signaled from his flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth: "The German flag will be hauled down at sunset today and will not be hoisted again without permission." This document, clearly made by someone present, records the positions of the British, German, and American ships as they formed up that morning, organized by squadron: the light cruiser squadrons, the battle cruiser squadrons, the battle squadrons, the German vessels in the center column, and the American battleships (New York, Texas, Arkansas, Wyoming, and Florida) bringing up one flank. Seven months later, von Reuter ordered the interned fleet scuttled at Scapa Flow rather than allow the Allies to seize it; 52 of the 74 ships went to the bottom. This document records the last morning the German High Seas Fleet sailed intact.