On 21 June 1919 the ships of the German High Seas Fleet—interned at Scapa Flow since the Armistice—began to founder taking their British custodians completely by surprise. In breach of agreed terms the fleet dramatically scuttled itself in a well-planned operation that consigned nearly half a million tons and 54 of 72 ships to the bottom of the sheltered anchorage in a gesture of Wagnerian proportions. Using new material from German sources and a host of eye-witness testimonies Nicholas Jellicoe meticulously reconstructs the circumstances of the scuttling itself and clearly lays out the aftermath for all parties involved.