Scapa 1919

The German fleet that fought the Battle of Jutland surrendered at the end of World War I and was interned in Scapa Flow pending the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles. In July 1919, the entire fleet attempted to sink itself in the Flow to prevent it from being broken up as war prizes. Of the 74 ships present, 52 sank, and 22 were prevented from doing so by circumstance and British intervention.

Scapa 1919 examines the scuttling and subsequent salvage by the Royal Navy, locals, Cox & Danks, and Metal Industries, of much of the fleet. Crucially, it studies the remains of the seven intact warships from the scuttling and the remains of the lifted ships, which are more extensive than previously imagined. This has been done comprehensively due to the survey conducted in January 2017 aboard MV Vina, the vessel previously used to survey the Jutland site.

In this book, marine archaeologist and historian Dr Innes McCartney reveals for the first time what became of the warships that were scuttled, examining the circumstances behind the loss of each ship and reconciling what was known at the time with what the archaeology is revealing today. The understanding of what was present transformed in 2015 with a groundbreaking survey using the modern technology of multi-beam.

This is the first book to identify the locations of many of the wrecks and how some of these sites have been illegally plundered for salvage. Scapa 1919 is a revealing study of a fleet lost for nearly a century beneath the waves and the secrets it has given up upon further study.