
A poignant service has been held to commemorate the centenary of the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow.
A service was held above the sunken wreck of the warship Dresden,.
During the service a bell recovered from the wreck of the Von der Tann was rung by the grandson of German commander Admiral Ludwig von Reuter.
The mass scuttling was the single greatest loss of warships in history.
The nine German sailors killed that day were the last fatalities of World War One.
The final peace treaty was signed a week later.
A ‘Scapa 100’ programme of events is being held to make the centenary.
Removed ‘stain of surrender’
It includes talks by experts, and performances by the German Navy and Royal Navy musicians.
A senior German officer declared at the time that the act had wiped away the “stain of surrender” from the German fleet.
During the 1920s and 1930s, many of the ships were lifted from the sea bed by commercial contractors and broken up.
The seven wrecks that remain are now classed as scheduled monuments.
Earlier this week it emerged that four of the vessels, which are now owned by a retired diving contractor, were being sold on eBay for more than £800,000.
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