Geography leaves defeated fleets few neutral ports to reach

How could Central Powers or Axis fleets surrender to a neutral country rather than to the Allies?

Only fleets with a reachable neutral coast could do it; Germany had limited options, while Italian and Austrian ships were effectively trapped by geography and enemy control.

Access is the decisive limit on a defeated navy trying to surrender to a neutral power. German ships might reach Sweden, or Russia in an earlier setting, because geography offers a route. Italian ships would have to pass hostile fleets to reach Spain, while Austrian vessels had virtually no neutral destination available. Blockade and enclosed seas can make a legally possible internment operationally impossible.