The
High Seas Fleet ( ) was the main battle fleet
of the
Imperial German Navy
during
World War I.
The fleet was based at
Wilhelmshaven
in the Jade
estuary
, and commanded by Admirals Friedrich von Ingenohl (1913–1915),
Hugo von Pohl (1915–1916), Reinhard Scheer (1916–1918), and Franz von Hipper (1918).
It posed
such a threat to the Royal Navy's control
of the seas around Britain
that the British Grand
Fleet had to remain concentrated in the North Sea
for the duration of the war, even as many urgent
tasks in other theatres of war went undone for lack of
ships.
History
World War I
The High Seas Fleet was outnumbered three to two by the British
Grand Fleet; however, during some periods in the first year of the
war an equalization of forces in the North Sea was almost achieved
not by Germany's will but by the British dispersal of ships to
numerous other parts of the world. In the latter part of the war
the ratio tipped in the British favour. The German navy was
unwilling to risk a head-to-head engagement of fleets, preferring a
strategy of raids into the North Sea with the aim of drawing out a
section of the British fleet that could be cut off and destroyed.
However,
the battles at Heligoland
Bight (28 August 1914), Dogger Bank
(24 January 1915) and Jutland
(31 May
1916) were inconclusive and did not change the strategic
position.
As the British
blockade caused increasing
economic hardship in Germany, the German Imperial Navy concentrated
its resources on
unrestricted submarine
warfare in an effort to win the
First Battle of the Atlantic
and strangle the British war effort. Aside from two sorties in
August 1916 and April 1918, the High Seas Fleet languished in dock
for the remainder of the war.
In October 1918, with the army facing defeat and the civil
population starving, Scheer decided to launch a do-or-die attack on
the Grand Fleet. Knowing that the attack would be vetoed, he
neglected to inform the government of Prince
Max von Baden. But when orders
were given to sail from Wilhelmshaven on 29 October 1918, many
sailors either
refused to obey them
or deserted. The plan was abandoned, but these events led to
the Wilhelmshaven Mutiny, to
revolution in Germany, the fall of the
Imperial government on 9 November and the
Armistice on 11
November 1918.
Final scuttling
German battlecruisers steaming into
Scapa Flow
Under the
terms of the Armistice, the High Seas Fleet went into internment at
the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow
in Orkney
. In
"Operation ZZ" on 21 November 1918, sixty Allied battleships
escorted eleven battleships, five battlecruisers, eight cruisers
and forty-eight destroyers of the High Seas Fleet into captivity.
On 21 June
1919, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter gave the order to
scuttle the ships
to prevent their falling into British hands.
Fifty-three ships sank. Nine German officers and sailors were
killed as the British attempted to prevent the sinkings, and were
the last casualties of the First World War. The battleship
SMS Baden, Germany's last and best
battleship built, was successfully beached and extensively
analysed.
Swedish historian Alf W Johansson considers the creation of a
German High Sea Fleet a prime example of a strategic blunder.
Translated from his book
Europas krig ("Wars of
Europe"):
Order of battle
In general, the High Seas fleet was able to choose the times at
which to launch operations against the British so as to ensure most
of its ships were available to take part. By contrast, the British
were obliged to await actions instigated by the Germans, so were
likely to have a number of vessels undergoing maintenance and
repairs at a critical time. The composition of the fleets at the
battle of Jutland is shown in the article
Order of battle at
Jutland.
See also
References
- Massie, Robert K. Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and
the Winning of the Great War at Sea. New York: Ballantine
Books, 2004. ISBN 0-345-40878-0
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