Q&A ยท 1:14:50

How the High Seas Fleet might have been divided

The unsunk German fleet would have created a politically difficult allocation fight among the Allies.

Question

How might the German fleet have been divided if it had not been scuttled at Scapa Flow?

Short answer

It would have produced a major political dispute, likely ending in a roughly balanced allocation adjusted for each ally's claims and needs.

Notes

Every Allied power wanted ships from the surviving High Seas Fleet, while Britain would have preferred that no rival receive them. The scuttling at Scapa Flow therefore resolved part of a politically awkward postwar problem in Britain's favour. Without it, the Allies would probably seek a roughly balanced allocation while weighing different national claims. French arguments about wartime losses and naval needs would be one reason that a mathematically equal division was unlikely.