SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN FLEET

A most dramatic event was the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet. The British Grand Fleet, accompanied by an American battle squadron and French cruisers, steamed out before dawn in the morning of November 21, 1918, from its Scottish base to accept the surrender of the German battleships, battle cruisers, and destroyers. The point of rendezvous for the Allied and German sea forces was between thirty and forty miles east of May Island, opposite the Firth of Forth. The fleet which witnessed the surrender consisted of some 400 ships, including sixty dreadnoughts, fifty light cruisers, and nearly 200 destroyers. Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet, was on the Queen Elizabeth. The German warships, strung out in a single column almost twenty miles long, were led into the Firth of Forth between twin columns of Allied ships which overlapped the Germans at each end.

The main Allied fleet, extending over a line fourteen miles long in the Firth of Forth, began to weigh anchor at 1 o'clock in the morning. The Scotch mist which for days had obscured the harbor was swept away by a stiff breeze, and the moon shone brilliantly out of a clear sky. The ships quickly took their stations in the long double line they held throughout the day. British battle cruisers led the way, followed by dreadnoughts. Admiral Beatty's flagship, the Queen Elizabeth, led the squadron in the northern column. Five American battleships, the New York, Texas, Arkansas, Wyoming, and Florida, commanded by Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman, fell into line behind Admiral Beatty's craft, balancing a British squadron similar in power in the opposite file. All the battleships of the Allies were ready for instant action in case of treachery on the part of the Germans.

The rendezvous was approximately fifty miles distant and the ships gauged their speed to arrive at the appointed place at 8 o'clock. At 5 o'clock a signal summoned the men to battle stations, and, except the officers on the bridges, the ships' companies were hidden behind bulwarks of steel. When dawn broke, the sea was again covered with mist, which reduced the visibility to less than 8,000 yards.

Eyes straining through the murky haze finally were rewarded. Off the starboard bow, the Cardiff, trailing an observation kite balloon, came steaming in. Close behind her came the first of the German ships, the great battle cruiser Seydlitz, which was flying the flag of Commodore Togert. After her came four others of the same type, the Derfflinger, Von der Tann, Hindenburg, and Moltke. They moved along three cable lengths apart.

Immediately following them were nine dreadnoughts, the Friedrich der Grosse, flagship of Rear Admiral von Reuter; the Koenig Albert, Kaiser, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Kaiserin, Bayern, Markgraf, Prinzregent Luitpold, and the Grosser KurfÜrst. Three miles astern of the battleships came seven light cruisers, the Karlsruhe, bearing the ensign of Commodore Harder; the Frankfort, Emden, NÜrnberg, Brummer, CÖln, and Bremen. Then came another gap of three miles and German destroyers came steaming in, five columns abreast, with ten destroyers to a column.

Every vessel steaming out to meet them flew battle ensigns and was ready for instant action, with its men at battle stations and guns in position.

Six miles separated the Allied columns, and squarely between them the Cardiff brought her charges, all steaming at the stipulated speed of ten knots. As ordered, their guns were in regular fore-and-aft positions, and, as far as powerful glasses could determine, there was no sign to provoke suspicion. Until all the major ships had been swallowed up in the enveloping Allied columns, the latter never for a moment relaxed their alert watch. Over the Germans circled a British dirigible, which acted as eyes for the Allied ships, which, although the fog had lifted, were still too distant for accurate observation.

When the leading German ship had reached the western end of the flanking columns the Allied ships put about in squadrons. Quickly re-forming their lines, they proceeded to escort the enemy into the Firth of Forth. By noon the last wisp of fog had dispersed and a splendid view of the vast array of war craft could be obtained. Holding steadily to its course, the great fleet reached May Island at 2 o'clock. The captive Germans were piloted to anchorages assigned to them and British ships from the northern column steamed on to the regular anchorages higher up the Firth.

Inspection parties from the Grand Fleet boarded the Germans to make sure that all conditions of the armistice were observed. The enemy vessels were to be interned in Scapa Flow. Part of the crews were to remain for maintenance work and the remainder were to be returned to Germany soon.

The total tonnage surrendered, exclusive of submarines, amounted to approximately 420,000, divided as follows: Battle cruisers, 121,000 tons; dreadnoughts, 225,000 tons; light cruisers, 43,000 tons, and destroyers, 30,000.

Even after the cessation of hostilities there was still plenty of work to do for the naval forces of the Allies. After the occupation of Constantinople, already described, Allied ships occupied Odessa on November 26, 1918, and on the same day anchored off Sebastopol, the Russian naval base in the Crimea. There they took over the Russian ships, then in the hands of the Germans, as well as some German submarines.

In the Baltic, too, British and other Allied ships made their appearance. On December 3, 1918, a British squadron, consisting of twenty-two ships and including destroyers, cruisers, mine sweepers, and transport steamers, were reported to have arrived in the port of Libau in Courland. At midnight on December 4, 1918, one of these ships, the British light cruiser Cassandra, of 6,000 tons, struck a mine and sank within an hour with a loss of eleven men. A few days later, on December 6, 1918, it was announced that some of these ships had successfully bombarded, from the Gulf of Finland, front and rear positions held by the Bolsheviki forces in Esthonia, stopping their advance.