June 21, 1919. The Germans Scuttle Their Fleet in Scapa Flow.

The Bayern sinking.

On this day in 1919 German sailors, those loyal to their officers who had been retained while less loyal ones had been sent home, followed their officers orders and sent fifteen flag ships, thirty two destroyers and four cruisers to the bottom of Scapa Flow rather than turn them over to the Allies.

The action was both an acquiesce that the game was up for Germany in a definitive and irretrievable way and an act of defiance.  The German commander in charge of the interned fleet was under the impression that the Armistice would come to an end on this day and the Allies would seize the vessels.  He was aware that they could not escape, so scuttling them was an act of loyalty towards his government, if a Pyrrhic on that also acknowledged that the German cause was lost.

Some of the same vessels had been involved in mutinies against the German government in 1918 during which German sailors had demonstrated that they were done with the war and were teetering on the brink of communist rebellion.  Those same crews had not been reliable in internment, but the officers had sent disloyal sailors back to Germany as the crews of the ships were reduced while they were in Scapa flow.  So by this time, the remaining crewmen were loyal to their officers.

The sea cocks of the vessels were opened up around 10:00 but their sinking was not noticeable for another two hours.  At that time the German sailors abandoned their ships, although about fifteen were shot by the British in the process. They became prisoners of war.  Not all of the German ships in Scapa Flow were sunk, and the those that were not were taken into British possession.  The sunken ships themselves were left in place until 1923 when some were salvaged as part of a private operation.

The German navy never regained the status it had prior to this date.

Of course, it wouldn't have in any event.  While the ships went into internment with the hope that some would be released to a new German navy, there was little realistic hope of that.

The German scuttling made the headlines as far away as Wyoming that very day.  At the same time readers were reading that the country might be on the brink of war, but with Mexico.

The paper noted correctly that Germany needed to form a new cabinet, and in fact it already had.  At the same time, Eamon DeValera was in the country arguing for the recognition of his government in Ireland.

As the German fleet was sinking, in Vanada Virginia, this ship was being launched.

And the President of Brazil was visiting Washington D. C.