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

On June 21, 1919, in the British Grand Fleet's Orkney anchorage in northern Scotland, by mistake, there occurred the single greatest loss of shipping in naval history Over 400,000 tons of the finest warships then in existence, seventy-four vessels of which fifty-two actually went to the bottom, including five massive battlecruisers, were sunk on purpose in an incredible act of self destruction. And Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter became the only man in history to sink his own navy because of a misleading report.

This is the fullest treatment to date of this extraordinary event. The Royal navy guessed what the Admiral was going to do but could not thwart it. The sinking produced the last casualties and the last prisoners of the war. Van der Vat also tells the fascinating story of the complicated salvage operation which re-claimed much of the ships' steel (fragments of which are on the moon today!). Dan Van Der Vat has written a number of books on maritime history, including The Riddle of the Titanic.