It is not every day that you find a naval history book of the 20th century co-written by a Professor of Egyptology (Aidan Dodson) and an Historic England shipwreck specialist (Serena Cant). The book details the stories of the surrendered naval forces from each World War and is split logically into separate sections with coverage of the last months of each war: (Endgame), the surrender negotiations; (Dividing the Spoils); and eventual fate (Under New Management). Each war section is concluded with a detailed table covering every ship's fate, including scrap value! Unsurprisingly, differing national requirements of the victors needed to be resolved after both wars.After WWⅠ, the British line was to use the proceeds from scrapping the enemy fleets as reparations, while the French were keen to gain some hulls, and the USA viewed sinking the ships as the best option.The scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet in 1919 resolved much of the debate. Similar lines were taken after WWⅡ with the addition of the USSR keen to gain hulls, particularly submarines.Another common objective was to gain technical knowledge; explosive and gunnery trials were a key part of the post war investigations. After WWⅠ, investigations mainly involved looking at effects of explosive on submarines and testing the latest shells against surface ships. After WWⅡ, surrendered German and Japanese ships were used in the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll. Neither the USA nor the UK was interested in the technical aspects of the surrendered Italian fleet in 1943, but the 1945 German submarine force was a different prospect. It was primarily the German Walther submarines with their sophisticated propulsion that the USA and UK were interested in, not least because they didn't want them to fall into Soviet hands.The Soviets were allocated some Axis surface ships including the cruiser Nurnberg and the Italian battleship Guilio Cesare and other minor war vessels; but their priority for submarines was restricted. The majority of the German U-boat force in 1945 was under British control and was scuttled. The Japanese fleet had been decimated by surrender with only one battleship still afloat but effectively non-operational, a cruiser force almost non-existent, and carriers neutralised. Not all the post surrender uses were destructive. After WWⅠ some submarine diesel engines were purchased by UK local authorities for power generation, and two went into the RN X-I. Some U-boats made port visits for "propaganda" purposes or public display and testing. Similar use was made after WWⅡ and the British commissioned one Walther boat as HMS Meteorite.
展开▼
