If they scuttled her, they probably paid off the owner, and the owner was probably glad to get what he could (it had been through some serious damage). In that case, there's an international agreement that military vessels remain the property of the home country, in this case, the UK.
I don’t know much about admiralty law except that it’s complicated and often turns on technicalities. I wonder if a government’s claim to a ship it owns in the sense of I own it under a deed is as strong as that is/was a commissioned vessel in the government’s navy.
“...and the owner was probably glad to get what he could (it had been through some serious damage)...”
And to think my old man still talked about how he should have never got rid of that 1954 Cadillac!