Orders had been issued forbidding any demonstration and these instructions were obeyed to the letter. There was complete silence as the submarines surrendered and as the crews were transferred.
On November 21st, the German High Seas fleet that had been protected by the submarines surrendered to the combined fleet consisting of British, American and French battleships. The British admiralty's terse statement concerning the historic spectacle follows:
The commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet has reported that at 9.30 o'clock this morning he met the first and main installment of the German high seas fleet, which is surrendering for internment. Admiral Sir David Beatty is Commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet.
On the same day another flotilla of German U-boats also was surrendered to a British squadron. There were nineteen submarines in all; the twentieth broke down on the way.
The Grand Fleet, accompanied by five American battleships and three French cruisers, steamed out at 3 o'clock on the morning of November 21st, from its Scottish base to accept the surrender. The vessels moved in two long columns.
The German fleet which surrendered consisted of nine battleships, five cruisers, seven light cruisers and fifty destroyers, Seventy-one vessels in all. There remained to be surrendered two battleships, which were under repair, and fifty modern torpedo-boat destroyers.
One German destroyer while on its way across the North Sea with the other ships of the German High Seas fleet to surrender struck a mine. It was so badly damaged that it sank.
Describing the surrender of the German warships to Sir David Beatty, the Commander-in-Chief of the grand fleet, correspondents said that after all the German ships had been taken over, the British admiral went through the line on the Queen Elizabeth, every Allied vessel being manned and greeting the admiral and the flagship with loud and ringing cheers.
[Illustration: Painting]
GERMAN PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS
After torpedoing their ship the submarine shelled the lifeboats and
jeered at the struggles of the helpless crew.
[Illustration: Painting]
Courtesy of Joseph A. Steinmetz, Phila.
THE EYE OF THE SUBMARINE
Diagram of a periscope, showing how, when its tip is lifted out of
water, a picture of the sea's surface is reflected downward from a
prism, through lenses, and then a lower prism, hence to the officer's
eye. It turns in any direction.