SMS König
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After
the armistice 11.November 1918 between Germany and the
Entente, or the Allies if you like, it was decided that
the German navy should be interned in Scapa Flow. The
fleet with 5 battle cruisers, 11 battleships, 8 cruisers
and 50 destroyers and other smaller vessels arrived Scapa
Flow 25.November 1918, and occupied the whole area from
Hoy Sound and all the way down to Lyness. The German fleet
was guarded by Grand Fleet which had Scapa Flow as their
main base. While the peace negotiations went on, the
Germans on the ships began to be suspicious that the
British wanted to confiscate the fleet. 21.June 1919, the
commander Ludwig Von Reuter issued the order to launch
"Paragraph 11", the code for the fleet to be scuttled.
Within few hours almost the whole German fleet disappeared
in the deep, with exceptions of a few units that the
British navy managed to put ashore. Most of the wrecks
were raised in the years to follow, but König was left in the deep. She capsized
because of the heavy gun towers and rest today on a depth
of 20 to 40 meter northeast of Cava.
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 SMS König Wikipedia, Public domain  |
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