#hipper

some zelda thingies i made for a friend’s birthday earlier this year :3c !!

Admiral Hipper by Light novel 800

The High Seas Fleet on its way to the Firth of Forth on the morning of November 21.

November 21 1918, Inchkeith--The terms of the armistice demanded that the Germans give up the bulk of the High Seas Fleet.  The Americans, not wanting the fleet to end up in British or French hands, proposed that they be interned in neutral ports, but no neutral country wanted custody of a fleet that was well-known to be filled with mutinous and revolutionary sailors.  As a result, the Allies eventually agreed that the ships would be interned at Scapa Flow; they would be watched carefully by the British, but would still be manned by German skeleton crews.

On November 21, 70 German ships arrived off the Firth of Forth and were escorted in, under the eye of 370 Allied vessels, Admiral Beatty, and Admiral Sims.  Hipper declined to lead his fleet into exile, and left it to a subordinate, Admiral Reuter.  The Allies did not have their guns trained on the Germans, but were ready for action in case the Germans tried something suicidal.  Ultimately, this was unnecessary; the German ships had removed all ammunition before they sailed.  The final German count was a few ships short of what was promised in the armistice: two were left behind with engine troubles, one had struck a mine on the way over, and one was still under construction.

When the sun set at 3:37 PM, the German flag was hauled down on all the interned ships; it would only be raised once more.  Over the next week, the ships were transferred in groups to Scapa Flow, where they would wait while the peace negotiations proceeded.  Three-quarters of the sailors were sent home to Germany early in December, leaving crews large enough for basic maintenance and to navigate at reduced speed.