Figure 1.--The press caption here read "First Maneouveres of New German Navy: German school children inspecting the latest German batteship, 'Braunschweig' of the German Rpublican Navy, off Swinemuende. This is the flag ship Admiral Bennke." The photograph was dated Seotembr 18, 1924. The Vesailles Treaty restricted Germany to six battleships. The modern ships were iterred by the British at Scappa Flow. Rather hand them over to the British, the German skeleton scuttled them just before the Versailles Treaty was finalizd (June 1919). Germany's modern battleships weere this all scuttled and Germn was left with only obsolete pre-Dreadnought battleships like the Braunschweig and Deutschland class.

The reaty of Versailles (1919) placed stringent limits on the German Navy. The German naval threat had been the most serious the British had faced since Trafalgar. (Although the growth of American naval power had no gone unnoticed. As Admiral Jellicoe famously stated, he was the only man who could lose the War in a single day.) In he one major fleet engagement of the War (Jutland 1916), the Germans had performed well, but were defeated the massive size of the Royal Navy. The British had won the War, but had been seriously weakened. They were intent on reducing military spending and wanted to ensure there would not be another costly naval challenge from Germany Germany. The German High Seas Fleet had been interned with skeleton crews at Scappa Flow, the main Royal Navy naval base (November 1918). the Germans to the horror of the British sentries scuttled their vessels rather than turning them over over to the British (1919). Some of the vessels were more modern and powerful than Royal Navy and American battleships. They included some of the most advanced naval vessels in existence at the time. Articles 159-213 of the Versailles Treaty contained the Military, Naval and Air limitation clauses. The Naval Clauses severely restricted the German Navy (Article 181-197). The High Seas Fleet had to be surrendered to Britain. The Treaty required that 2 months after the Treaty came into force that the Reich Marine Navy was not to exceed 6 pre-Dreadnought battleships of the Deutschland or Lothringe/Braunschweig-class, meaning none of the modern German battleships, Other limits were 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, or an equal number of ships constructed to replace them as provided in Article l90. Submarines (U-boats) were specifically prohibited. The Navy had to be limited to 15,000 officers and men. All military and naval aviation had to be terminated.

Created: 12:12 AM 5/8/2025
Last updated: 12:12 AM 5/8/2025