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Therefore, as a condition of the Armistice, the Fleet was to be taken into internment and be heavily guarded at Scapa Flow - until the Treaty of Versailles determined its fate. German guns were to be disarmed in Germany before their Fleet set sail.

Once the Armistice was called, arrangements were made by the Allies to receive the High Seas Fleet into internment. The entire British Grand Fleet had rendezvoused with the High Seas Fleet in the North Sea to escort it into Scapa Flow where it was thought the German Fleet could be kept safely under guard. No such sea force had ever been gathered before – a staggering 90,000 men were afloat, on a total of 370 warships.

The British were taking no chances on any German treachery. Their guns were loaded and all crews were at action stations, alertly looking out for any signs of trouble. The British Grand Fleet split into two long lines of battleships and battlecruisers, six miles apart and stretching beyond sight into the distance.

The German High Seas Fleet had sailed through the passage thus created in single column and been escorted by the British Grand Fleet up to Scapa Flow and into internment. The German ships were lined up in neat compact rows once in Scapa Flow, sometimes with up to three or four of the smaller vessels moored to the one buoy.