"Baden" was not originally intended to be surrendered under the terms of the Armistice, but was substituted for the battlecruiser "Mackensen", which lay incomplete and could not put to sea. As a result, instead of joining the High Seas Fleet when it departed for Scapa Flow on 21 November 1918, "Baden" left Germany on 7 January 1919, and after arriving, most of her crew were taken off the by the light cruiser to be returned to Germany. The Royal Navy inspected the ship on 9 January, but many of the technical instruments, including gunnery equipment, had been removed before the ship left Germany. The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations in Versailles that ultimately produced the treaty that ended the war. A copy of "The Times" informed Rear Admiral von Reuter that the Armistice was to expire at noon on 21 June 1919, the deadline by which Germany was to have signed the peace treaty. Von Reuter came to the conclusion that the British intended to seize the German ships after the Armistice expired. To prevent this, he decided to scuttle his ships at the first opportunity. On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers; at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships.