Jutland to Junkyard
Jutland to Junkyard
The raising of the scuttled
German High Seas Fleet from Scapa Flow
– the greatest salvage operation of all time
S.C. George
This edition published 1999 by
Birlinn Limited
West Newington House
10 Newington Road
Edinburgh EH9 1QS
First published in 1973 by Patrick Stephen Ltd
Copyright © Birlinn Limited, 1999
Reprinted 2003, 2009
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the express permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978 1 84341 010 2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset in New Baskerville by Brinnoven, Livingston
Printed and bound by CPI Cox & Wyman, Reading
Contents
Foreword
List of Illustrations
1 The Storm Clouds Gather
2 The Battle of Jutland
3 Surrender
4 Scuttled!
5 The Men, the Means and the Ships
6 The Destroyers
7 Hindenburg Fights Back
8 Moltke’s Last Voyage
9 The Big Ships
10 Cox Bows Out
11 Metal Industries Ltd Takes Over
12 The Last of the Big Ones
Appendix 1 Vice Admiral von Reuter’s account of the scuttling
Appendix 2 Secret letter found in cabin safe of SMS Emden
Appendix 3 Analysis of scrap from the break-up of SMS Friedrich der Grosse
Appendix 4 Comparative tables of German warships at Scapa Flow
Appendix 5 Ships of the German fleet interned in Scapa Flow
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index
Foreword
Rod MacDonald
SCAPA FLOW IS A DRAMATIC and windswept expanse of water some 12 miles across and almost completely encircled by the islands of Orkney. For centuries it has been a safe, sheltered and heavily defended anchorage for the Royal Navy. Great warships have come and gone. Dramatic deeds are an integral part of its past. Countless military man hours have gone into defensive planning and endeavour to render this great naval anchorage safe and impregnable to our wartime enemies. Those enemies in turn have gone to similar lengths in attempting to find a way through those defences to attack valuable Allied shipping.
Even today, more than half a century after the end of World War II, all around the sea passages into the Flow empty gun emplacements and barracks bear silent witness to its wartime role. In the dark depths of Scapa Flow lie countless testaments to man’s inhumanity to man. U-boats attempting to penetrate into the Flow to attack Allied shipping were depth charged, or sunk by a controlled mine explosion after the sound of their engines had been picked up by detector cables laid across the seabed. Countless other vessels have come to grief in the Flow. Others have been sunk deliberately in attempts to block the minor sea passages. The seabed is littered with the legacy of its maritime past.
One U-boat, U47 under the command of Lieut. Cmdr. Günther Prien, did manage to slip past the British defences on 14 October 1939 in the dead of night and torpedo the 29,000-ton British battleship HMS Royal Oak at anchor. Royal Oak turned turtle within five minutes and sank in 30 metres of water with her crew still trapped inside her. The torpedo explosions destroyed her power circuits and the whole ship below decks was pitched into darkness. Crew members stumbled around desperately in the darkness, groping for a way out of her labyrinthine insides as Royal Oak keeled over. In all, 833 officers and men died in that one attack. The 19,560-ton British battleship HMS Vanguard was destroyed in a single cataclysmic magazine explosion on 9 July 1917 with the loss of more than 700 men.
Scapa Flow is however probably best known nowadays as the final resting place of the remains of the German Imperial Navy’s High Seas Fleet of World War I. The High Seas Fleet had been interned at Scapa Flow in November 1918 as a condition of the armistice which suspended the hostilities pending peace negotiations which would eventually lead to the Treaty of Versailles. Fearing that those negotiations were about to break down and that the British would seize the Fleet, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter gave the order on 21 June 1919 to scuttle it. All 74 warships of the fleet, giant battle cruisers, battleships, light cruisers and torpedo boat destroyers scuttled simultaneously and sank to the bottom of Scapa Flow. It was and still is the single greatest act of maritime suicide the world has ever seen.
Initially the British Admiralty resolved to leave the sunken fleet to rust on the bottom of Scapa Flow for ever. By the 1920s however the price of scrap metal, initially so abundant and cheap at the end of the Great War, had picked up and the salvagers’ attentions turned to the seemingly endless supply of high quality German scrap metal lying on the seabed. Additionally the sunken warships, some only partially submerged, had proved to be a hazard to navigation with a number of other vessels running aground on them. Over the coming decades the majority of the 74 warships were raised intact from the depths in a mammoth, ground-breaking salvage operation.
The last vessel of the High Seas Fleet to be raised intact from the seabed was the 26,180-ton battle cruiser Derfflinger, brought to the surface in 1939 from a record depth of 45 metres. She was towed to Rosyth for breaking but the outbreak of World War II led to the Admiralty taking over control of the dry dock where the vessel would have been broken down. Derfflinger lay at Rosyth throughout the war and was finally broken down in 1946.
All bar seven of the High Seas Fleet had been salvaged during these decades of incredible marine salvage. The 26,000-ton battleships Kronprinz Wilhelm, Markgraf and König all lay in deep water of between 35 and 45 metres with awkward lists of 30 to 40 degrees, settling year by year into the clinging mud of the seabed. The smaller 5,500-ton light cruisers Cöln, Karlsruhe, Brummer and Dresden, all lay on their sides in relatively deep water. They would be difficult wrecks to raise from the seabed and did not hold sufficient of worth to merit salvage. The salvors therefore abandoned any attempts to raise these seven vessels whole. Over the succeeding years some small-scale salvaging of the remaining vessels of the High Seas Fleet was carried out mainly by the use of explosives to blast open the engine room areas and remove the valuable non-ferrous engine machinery. That having been done the seven ghosts of the High Seas fleet were left to lie in peace on the seabed.
Jutland to Junkyard is thus a fascinating account of these times, the dramatic scuttling and the momentous salvage works in the following decades by charismatic characters. In writing the book, S.C. George went to painstaking lengths to trace and interview the actual characters involved in the work. It is based on genuine firsthand accounts and is full of fascinating anecdotes from the actual people involved. If he had not gone to these lengths and recorded these memories for future generations they would have passed into oblivion. Now they are here for posterity, for all of us interested in the subject to learn from.
When Jutland to Junkyard was published in 1973, S.C. George probably thought that the remaining seven vessels would be left in the d
ark depths of Scapa Flow to rust away to nothing in ignominy, passing silently into the history books and of little interest to future generations. Whereas the focus of the world’s attention had been on Scapa Flow at the time of the momentous salvage attempts in the 1930s, not much interest was being shown in the remaining vessels on the seabed. In the years following its publication however, there has been a huge surge in the popularity of scuba diving. Progressively throughout the 1970s more and more divers started visiting Scapa Flow enticed by the legend of the scuttling, the momentous salvage works and the ghost ships lying on the bottom. Each wreck is a time capsule that represents an era of sea power and majesty that has long since passed into the history books. Scapa Flow became a place of pilgrimage for divers eager to visit these huge relics of a distant war and the countless other wrecks that have come to grief there and litter the seabed.
Scapa Flow in 1973 had only very limited facilities for visiting divers. Divers had to be robust and ingenious to find and dive the wrecks. Quite often they would have to take their own compressor to Orkney to fill air tanks, along with their own inflatable boat to get out to the wreck sites. Some divers camped ashore. The wrecks were not buoyed and the navigational aids that divers use nowadays were not around. Divers had a compass, a set of transits and a depth sounder at best and had to search the wide expanse of the Flow themselves to find the wrecks. There were no dive charter vessels to take divers out to the wreck sites.
Over the years as more divers came north to the Flow the commercial potential of the German World War I wrecks became appreciated and in the late 1970s the first hard boat charters started up, taking parties of up to 12 divers at a time out to explore the wrecks. Progressively more dive charter businesses set up and nowadays there are usually about 10 to 15 dive charter boats working the Flow. In the good diving months of the year here, between April and October, most of these boats will have their full complement of 12 divers aboard diving six days a week. Some of the boats now offer a liveaboard package. A recent innovation has been the start up of a venture designed to reveal the secrets of the Flow to non divers via the use of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). This is an agile underwater camera used extensively in the offshore oil industry, which can be remotely ‘flown’ over the wreck by operators in a passenger-carrying boat above. The ROV sends live footage as it navigates around the wreck up to TV screens on the boat above enabling the passengers to share in the excitement of exploring one of the famous wrecks. In all, thousands of divers visit Orkney each year bringing much appreciated revenue to local businesses, dive/souvenir shops, hotels and pubs and not just to the dive charter boats themselves. Groups of divers make trips here from the USA and Europe, and in diving circles Scapa Flow is known and revered internationally as one of the great dive locations of the world. The value of the income to Orkney from the wrecks of Scapa Flow cannot be underestimated.
When I was researching material for my own book Dive Scapa Flow in 1989, Jutland to Junkyard was one of my main reference books. I didn’t have a copy myself and it proved very difficult to get hold of it through my local library as it was long out of print. As far as I am aware it was only reprinted once, in 1981. I am therefore very pleased to see this essential book published again and once more on the shelves of bookshops and libraries in Orkney and on the mainland. It is part of Orkney’s heritage. New generations of divers and non divers alike can now rediscover a fascinating chapter of Scapa Flow’s rich maritime history.
Rod Macdonald,
February 1999
Illustrations
PLATES
Kronprinz Wilhelm and Markgraf off the coast of Scotland
The German fleet in Scapa Flow
Panoramic view of Scapa Flow
Bernard Gribble’s drawing of the scuttling
German destroyer capsizing after having been scuttled
Bayern sinking by stern
Destroyers sinking and beached on Fara
The last Kamerad of World War I
A coaling boat stuck on one of the sunken ships
Sinking of Hindenburg – phase 1
Sinking of Hindenburg – phase 3
Sinking of Hindenburg – phase 2
Sinking of Hindenburg – phase 4
The floating dock passing under the Forth Bridge
A destroyer lifted by inflated balloons and barges
Another destroyer lifted by the same method
Jimmy Thomas, one of the divers
A diver in the Siebe-Gorman diving-suit
Divers and assistants about to examine a wreck
One of the lifting chains that broke during the first attempt to raise destroyer V70
V70, the first destroyer to be lifted, between the floating docks
Hindenburg listing before the main mooring wire snapped Hindenburg between the floating docks
Hindenburg approaching maximum list
Hindenburg surrounded by cranes and salvage craft
The first air-lock being towed out to Hindenburg
Air-locks being fixed in position
Moltke passing under the Forth Bridge on her way to Rosyth
Salvage work on Moltke
Moltke on tow in a rough sea
Moltke in dry dock at Rosyth
Last voyage of Hindenburg
The keel of Seydlitz above water
Seydlitz on tow to Rosyth
Seydlitz on tow
Seydlitz on tow in a rough sea
Kaiser on tow with three tugs
Von der Tann passing under the Forth Bridge
Von der Tann being towed into the lock at Rosyth
The bells of Derfflinger and Friedrich der Grosse
Captain Steffan and Admiral Erdmann at Wilhelmshaven Derfflinger’s seal, found by one of the workers
Bow of Prinzregent Luitpold breaking surface
Prinzregent Luitpold under the Forth Bridge
Stern view of Prinzregent Luitpold in dock
Bertha, the salvage tug, standing off a wreck
Bertha and Metinda moored to a wreck
The salvage tug Bertha
Senior members of Metal Industries aboard Bertha
A rare photograph of Messrs McCrone and Cox
A work party aboard the salvage vessel Bertha
A shift of pressure-workers leaving an air-lock
A work party leaving a ship after completing their shift
J. Robertson, naval architect
Cowan, the chemist, aboard the salvage vessel
Workmen in wading-dress inside a wreck
Men entering Bertha’s decompression chamber
Divers working outside a wreck
Bayern, immediately after being raised
Bayern passing under the Forth Bridge
Bayern approaching the Forth Bridge
Bayern being towed into dock at Rosyth
Tugs towing Bayern up the Firth of Forth
The accommodation hut for salvage crews on wrecks under tow
Pressure workers entering the air-locks on König Albert
König Albert refloated
König Albert with attendant tugs passing under the Forth Bridge 15
König Albert being berthed in No 2 dock at Rosyth
Bayern’s appearance some time after demolition began
The end of Bayern
Tugs at Lyness preparing to tow König Albert to Rosyth
The bow of Friedrich der Grosse breaking surface
The stern of Friedrich der Grosse next breaks surface
The triple screws of Friedrich der Grosse appear above surface
Friedrich der Grosse safely afloat
Friedrich der Grosse with tugs ready for the tow
The gun turret of König Albert
Kaiserin, air-locks fixed, ready to be raised
Bow view of König Albert in dock at Rosyth
Kaiserin successfully raised
Friedrich der Grosse in dock at Rosyth
Cutting armour from Prinzregent Luit
pold
Friedrich der Grosse in an advanced state of demolition
Removing an air-lock from Derfflinger
At work on one of the giant screws of Derfflinger
An air-worker in Derfflinger’s cellar
Derfflinger on tow to Faslane Port
Derfflinger in floating dock at Faslane Port
Commodore T. McKenzie, principal salvage officer
MAPS AND FIGURES
Map of Scapa Flow and surrounding area
Plan of the surrender of the German fleet
Map of Scapa Flow showing position of the sunk German fleet
Figure 1. Arrangements of ropes for lifting destroyers
Figure 2. General arrangement of 100-foot air-lock
Figure 3. Bayern – subdivision and position of air-locks
Figure 4. Bayern – sectional elevation, bow afloat and 29½˚ list
Figure 5. König Albert, sections, subdivision and air-lock
Figure 6. Kaiserin, cross-section and subdivision
Figure 7. Friedrich der Grosse: plan showing arrangement of sections
Map of Scapa Flow and surrounding area.
1
The Storm Clouds Gather
THE GERMAN EMPIRE WAS born after the humiliation of France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Germany’s power-potential ran with her ambition. Towards the end of the decade she watched France, Russia and Italy begin to modernise and expand their navies, then herself became a competitor in the arms race.
At first, Germany regarded France and Russia as her most dangerous rivals. As her industrial and military growth increased and as she participated in the European scramble for land in Africa, England watched her with increasing misgiving, especially when in 1898 Germany’s first Navy Law was passed and the strength of her fleet fixed at:
19 battleships (two in reserve);
8 armoured coast defence ships;
6 large cruisers;
16 smaller cruisers and, for foreign service, 6 large and 14 smaller, cruisers.
Then Germany began a naval building programme intended to break Britain’s grip on European waters. The German Naval Bill of 1900 stated: ‘Germany must have a battle fleet so strong that even the adversary possessed of the greatest sea power will attack it only with grave risk to herself’. The Kaiser supported Tirpitz to whom he said that ‘with every new German battleship there was laid down a fresh pledge for peace the golden’. Germany was convinced that she had every right to build ships for the protection of her new colonies and her sea-borne trade.
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