The self-sinking of the German fleet in Scapa Flow was also intended to preserve honour. The significance of the event in German naval history is disputed.
We have long since lost our honour abroad, and to those who still thought something of us [the navy] we have become contemptible as a result of the revolution and Spartacus, because the majority of the people do not support these things; but we can only regain this 'honour' through deeds, the restoration of order and the acquisition of fame."
Scapa Flow - The German Fleet. Photo: Orkney Library and Archive
When Friedrich Ruge, lieutenant at sea, officer of the watch and interim commander on the torpedo boat B 110, wrote this to his fiancée on 19 June 1919, he knew that the German fleet interned in Scapa Flow was to be sunk. 60 years later, he wrote about this "honour-saving deed": "It was a feeling of relief for me when the boat capsized and sank:
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