to sink in the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow. She slipped beneath the waters of Scapa Flow at 13:15. Grosser Kurfürst followed 15 minutes later at 13:30. König sank at approximately 14:00, but Markgraf did not sink until 16:45; she was one of the last capital ships to be successfully scuttled—only the battlecruiser sank afterwards, at 17:00. Grosser Kurfürst was eventually raised, on 29 April 1938. The ship was towed to Rosyth, where she was broken up for scrap metal. The other three ships remain on the sea floor, and were sold to Britain in 1962. The wrecks have been used as sources of low-background steel, which has occasionally been removed for use in scientific devices. The vessels are popular diving sites, and in 2017, marine archaeologists from the Orkney Research Center for Archaeology conducted extensive surveys of the wrecks. A diving contractor, Tommy Clark, came to own the three battleships and the light cruiser in 1981, which he later placed for sale in 2019. König, Kronprinz, and Markgraf were all purchased by a Middle Eastern company. Notes Footnotes Citations References Further reading Battleship classes World War I battleships of Germany