Surrender of the U-boats

On 20 November 1918 the first group of German submarines surrendered off the coast of Essex. Twenty U-boats, which had left Wilhelmshaven two days earlier, crossed the North Sea and at the agreed position met the ships of the Harwich Force, commanded by Rear-Admiral Reginald Tyrwhitt. British cruisers and destroyers surrounded them and led them to an anchorage off the port. So began the execution of the naval terms of the Armistice of Compiègne. The surface ships were only to be interned pending the decision of the peace conference, but the submarines the Germans had to hand over to the Allies permanently within 14 days, every one of them that was seaworthy.

The submarine arm had already been silent for several weeks. Around 20–21 October, during the exchange of notes with President Wilson, Admiral Reinhard Scheer had recalled all submarines to base and forbidden them to attack merchant ships. When Beatty and Tyrwhitt settled the details of the surrender with Rear-Admiral Meurer on 15–16 November, it was agreed that all U-boats were to surrender at Harwich, from which British light cruisers and destroyers had sailed into the North Sea throughout the war. Tyrwhitt issued his orders on 17 November, and on the afternoon of 18 November learned that the first group had left Wilhelmshaven.

The procedure was simple and humiliating. When a submarine dropped anchor, a British officer boarded it with a crew. The German commander handed him a signed declaration that the boat was disarmed and seaworthy. Then the British White Ensign was hoisted, and when all the boats were ready the British took them up the river Stour and moored them in rows at Parkeston Quay. The German crews transferred at once to a transport and, without setting foot on British soil, sailed for home the same day. Tyrwhitt strictly forbade any show of triumph: when passing the U-boats, the crews of his ships were to keep complete silence. According to the British official history, the order was obeyed to the letter.

Further groups arrived over the following days. According to most sources, by April 1919 the Germans had handed over a total of 176 submarines at Harwich, which lay in the river in a line some 3 kilometres long and earned the local nickname “U-boat Avenue”. Some were later shown to the public in British ports, some were given to France, Japan and other allies, and most went for scrap. The surrender closed the submarine war, in which, according to the uboat.net website, the Germans sank some 5,000 ships and lost 178 boats and about 5,000 sailors. The next day the High Seas Fleet was due to surrender in the Firth of Forth.