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The warships, although under Allied guard, remained German property. The bulk of the 20,000 German sailors who had brought the ships to British waters were repatriated leaving only skeleton care-taker crews of up to 200 on the larger vessels. There were no British guards aboard the German ships, which were also prohibited from flying the German Imperial Navy ensign with its black cross and eagle.

The German sailors had to endure the savage cold of the long Orcadian winter as 1918 turned slowly to 1919 - as all the while their ships swung at their moorings. The German crews were not allowed ashore and all their provisions other than water and coal had to be sent to them from Germany. The peace negotiations dragged on as the Germans and the Allies made demand and counter demand. The snows and cold of winter gave way to spring 1919 – and then in turn to summer. And still the ships swung at their moorings.

In June 1919, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, in charge of the High Seas Fleet, learned from a four-day-old newspaper given to him by the British that the Armistice was due to end on 21 June. He read that the peace negotiations were in trouble and the newspaper reports indicated that no agreement was likely to be reached. If the peace negotiations broke down then it was clear that the fighting would start again. Manned by a skeleton crew and with his ships’ guns disarmed, his Fleet could not defend itself if the British tried to seize it on the Armistice ending.