![]() Delegations sent to their officers requesting the mutineers’ release were not heard. Some 250 met in the evening of 01 November in the Union House in Kiel. The sailors and stokers sought to prevent the fleet from setting sail again and to achieve the release of their comrades. In Holtenau (end of the canal in Kiel) they were brought to the Arrestanstalt (the military prison in Kiel) and to Fort Herwarth in the north of Kiel. While moving through the Kiel Canal he had 47 sailors from the Markgraf, who were seen as the ringleaders, imprisoned. When it “functioned perfectly (tadellos funktionierte)” he believed he was master of his crews again. The squadron commander, Vizeadmiral Hugo Kraft, exercised a maneuver with his battleships in the Heligoland Bight. The Third Navy Squadron was ordered back to Kiel. ![]() Nevertheless, the naval command had to drop its plans as it was felt that the crew’s loyalty could no longer be relied upon. However, when, a day later, some torpedo boats pointed their cannons at these ships, the mutineers gave up and were led away without any resistance. ![]() Part of the crew on SMS Thüringen and SMS Helgoland, two battleships from the First Navy Squadron, committed outright mutiny and sabotage. Sailors on board three ships from the Third Navy Squadron refused to weigh anchor. During the night from 28 to 30 October 1918 some crews refused to obey orders. ![]() The sailors’ revolt started on the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven, where the German fleet had anchored in expectation of a planned battle. The naval order of 24 October 1918 and the preparations to sail triggered a mutiny among the affected sailors and then a general revolution which was to sweep aside the monarchy within a few days. In October 1918, the imperial naval command in Kiel under Admiral Franz von Hipper planned to dispatch the fleet for a final battle against the Royal Navy in the English Channel. This was later presented to German Weimar Republic parliament (Reichstag) commission and is discussed at Naval Academy Mürwik naval history classes. Richard Stumpf has written a book “Warum die Flotte zerbrach – Kriegstagebuch eines christlichen Arbeiters (Why the fleet broke up – war diary of a Christian worker)” of his war memories, explaining the conditions that lead to the demise of German Imperial Navy. During the remaining months of the war, secret sailors’ councils were formed on a number of the capital ships. Two of the ringleaders were executed by firing squad while others were sentenced to prison. On 02 August 1917, 350 crewmen of the dreadnought Prinzregent Luitpold staged a protest demonstration in Wilhelmshaven. The discipline and spirit of those who remained, on lower rations, with the battleships tied up at dock-side, inevitably suffered. Many officers and crewmen volunteered to transfer to the submarines and light vessels which still had a major part to play in the war. Morale in the High Seas Fleetįollowing the Battle of Jutland in 1916, many of the capital ships of the Imperial Navy had seen reduced activity outside the Baltic and had remained in harbour. The most prominent and highest-ranking was Philipp Scheidemann, a prominent leader of the SPD as undersecretary without portfolio. In his cabinet the Social Democrats (SPD) also took on responsibility. On 03 October, the Kaiser appointed Prince Maximilian of Baden as the new imperial chancellor. Kaiser Wilhelm II was advised to request the Entente for an immediate cease fire and put the government on a democratic footing, hoping for more favourable peace terms. Backgroundīy September 1918, Germany’s military situation was close to hopeless. It ultimately led to the end of the German Empire and to the establishment of the Weimar Republic. The revolt triggered the German revolution which was to sweep aside the monarchy within a few days. The Kiel mutiny (German: Kieler Matrosenaufstand) was a major revolt by sailors of the German High Seas Fleet on 3 November 1918.
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