Freemantle stays in port

WI instead of taking his ships out to sea, Sydney Freemantle and his ships are in harbor when the Germans start scuttling their ships
 

Markus

Banned
:confused:WWI?, WWII?, Greenpeace?

Him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Fremantle

If he had "saved" the ships of the HSF a lot of nations -Britain included- would have gotten many modern german warships. That was the last thing on earth Britain wanted, especially as the RN could not have included german ships in its fleet. The compensation for the scuttled warships came in the shape of merchant ships, floating cranes and so on. Things the UK needed itself and in foreign hands it was nothing to worry about.
 
First of all, I do not think that Von Reuter would have ordered the ships scuttled unless he saw the fleet depart. So unless Freemantle feigned going out on excersises, or was forced to turn back, I think Von Reuter would just delay the scuttling.

However, lets assume that Von Reuter feels like he has to scuttle the ships on June 21. Unless he was extremely vigilant, I don't think Freemantle's men will notice that the ships are being scuttled until it is too late. The scuttling starting at 10 AM on June 21, but the flooding did not become externally visible until about noon. by that time nearly all the ships in the HSF had taken on thousands of gallons of water. Furthermore, the crews had damaged the flood control systems aboard the ships. The only way the ships could have been salvaged would have been if RN sailors had managed to board the ships and beach them. Maybe if the fleet were closer some of the destroyers could have towed a few of the capital ships?

Probably save closer to half a dozen capital ships and a lot more destroyers, and shoot a few dozen more die-hard German sailors. The damage from the flooding would have been extensive, and expensive to repair, but not catastrophic. Ultimately the ships would still be salvaged by Ernest Cox, Von Reuter would still be come home as a national hero. Perhaps more residual bitterness towards the RN amongst KM veterans?
 
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