German ships on 21 June, 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. 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. König sank at 14:00; the ship was never raised for scrapping, unlike most of the other capital ships that were scuttled. The rights to future salvage operations on the wreck were sold to Britain in 1962. The wrecks of König and the battleships Markgraf and Kronprinz Wilhelm were designated maritime scheduled ancient monuments on 23 May 2001. The ship is now a popular dive site in Scapa Flow, lying at a depth of on a sandy floor to the east of Cava. She turned over as she sank and the hull faces upwards at about down. There are several dynamited holes in her superstructure where salvagers have gained access to obtain non-ferrous metals. In 2017, marine archaeologists from the Orkney Research Center for Archaeology conducted extensive surveys of König and nine other wrecks in the area, including six other German and three British warships. The archaeologists mapped the wrecks with sonar and examined them with remotely operated underwater vehicles as part of an effort to determine how the wrecks are deteriorating. The wreck at some point came into the ownership of the firm Scapa Flow Salvage, which sold the rights to the vessel to Tommy Clark, a diving contractor, in 1981. Clark listed the wreck for sale on eBay with a "buy-it-now" price of £250,000, with the auction lasting until 28 June 2019. Three other wrecks—those of Kronprinz Wilhelm, Markgraf, and the light cruiser —all also owned by Clark, were also placed for sale. The wrecks of König and her two sisters ultimately sold for £25,500 apiece to a company from the Middle East, while Karlsruhe sold to a private buyer for £8,500. Notes Footnotes Citations References Further reading External links Profile of the wreck of the SMS König. 1913 ships König-class battleships Ships built in Wilhelmshaven World War I battleships of Germany World War I warships scuttled at Scapa Flow Maritime incidents in 1919