https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-48599958Scapa Flow scuttling: The day the German navy sank its own shipsOn the morning of Sunday 21 June 1919, the British fleet took advantage of good weather to steam out of the harbour on exercise. At 10:30, von Reuter's flagship, Emden, sent out the seemingly innocuous message - "Paragraph Eleven; confirm". It was a code ordering his men to scuttle their own ships.
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"The men in the drifters were ordered to open fire on the defenceless German sailors. They had no weapons, they were not allowed them and they didn't have any."
It is believed nine Germans died as a result of the actions that day.