Did the SMS Seydlitz sink?
SMS Seydlitz
The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Treaty of Versailles. Reuter believed that the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June 1919, which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty. Unaware that the deadline had been extended to the 23rd, Reuter ordered the ships to be sunk at the next opportunity. On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers, and at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships.[75] Seydlitz slipped beneath the surface at 13:50. On her side and on the bottom in twelve fathoms of water the wreck was frequently mistaken for a small island, and was sold in this condition as scrap to the salvage firm of Cox and Danks, led by Ernest Cox, along with a battleship and twenty-six destroyers. The ship was raised on 2 November 1928, and while still inverted was towed south to be scrapped in Rosyth by 1930. Seydlitz's bell is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial.[5]
SMS Prinz Adalbert (1901)
After her sister ship was sunk in November 1914, "Prinz Adalbert" was detached from the IV Scouting Group to replace her in the Coastal Defense Division in the Baltic on 29 November. She became the flagship for Admiral Ehler Behring, the commander of the cruiser detachment in the Baltic, on 7 December. On the 15th, she sortied with the light cruisers , , , and and several torpedo boats for a reconnaissance sweep toward the Åland Islands; the ships returned to port on 18 December without having engaged Russian forces. Another sweep followed on 27–29 December, this time to cover a sortie by the of the V Battle Squadron toward Gotland. On 6 January 1915, "Prinz Adalbert", "Thetis", "Augsburg", "Lübeck", and several torpedo boats and U-boats went on a patrol toward Utö, where they discovered a Russian base for submarines. The Germans planned to attack the base with the torpedo boats and "Thetis", since she had the shallowest draft, but due to a miscommunication, the attack was not carried out.