SCAPA FLOW IN WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II S F S I B · PDF fileSCAPA FLOW IN WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II. sels. By 1920 all the batteries had been dismantled and scrapped. Remains

With 92 km (57mi) of coastlineand an area of about 156 km2

(60mi2), it is sheltered by theisland of Hoy to the west, theMainland to the north, Burrayand South Ronaldsay to the east

and Flotta to the south. Themain southern entrance to thePentland Firth is the Sound ofHoxa. To the northwest, HoySound leads to the AtlanticOcean. The formerly strongly

tidal eastern channels to thenorth and south of Burray wereblocked in WWII by theChurchill Barriers.

The coastline consists of MiddleOld Red Sandstone, with sev-eral sandy bays. In the sub-lit-toral the sandstone is covered bymixed sandy and mud sedi-ments which form the majorityof the floor of Scapa Flow.Since the Barriers were built theinput of silt into the system hasbeen greatly curtailed. Thecoastline generally shelvessteeply to 20m, then more gentlyto over 30m and the central areais fairly level, apart from thesteep-sided reefs of the Barrel ofButter and Nevi Skerry.

The fetch over the basin isrestricted to less than 20km(12.5mi) which leads to a gener-ally sheltered environment.Strong winds still cause a steepsurface chop which particularlyaffects the moderately exposedsections in the north and east ofthe basin. The ChurchillBarriers have greatly affectedtidal flows and sediment deposi-tion around the whole area.

Hoy Sound and the BringDeeps, between Hoy and theMainland, extend around theisland of Graemsay and south-wards to Cava, leading into themain basin of Scapa Flow. Thearea has strong tides and waterexchange in the west, aroundBurra and Clestrain Sounds, butdecreasing tidal streams in theBay of Ireland and throughBring Deeps, which were for-merly renowned for good fish-ing.

SCAPA FLOW (ON SkalpeidFloi, Ship Isthmus Bay) is a largearea of water sheltered by theMainland and South Isles.Scapa and places in Scapa Floware mentioned many times in

the sagas, but it was not until the16th century that AlexanderLindsay, pilot for James V ofScotland, did a survey ofOrkney waters, including theFlow. In 1812 Scapa Flow was

suggested as a temporary ren-dezvous of the Royal Navy, butit was 1905 before theAdmiralty took a real interest inusing it.

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SCAPA FLOW IN WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II

sels. By 1920 all the batterieshad been dismantled andscrapped. Remains of severalcan still be seen today.

Battle of Jutland Despite thepreparations there had beenlittle contact with the enemy.Finally on 30 May 1916, newscame that the German HighSeas Fleet was about to put tosea. The Home Fleet left tomeet up with more of theBritish Fleet in the North Sea,making altogether nearly 150fighting ships. They met the99 ships of the German Fleeton the night of 31 May/1June. In all 14 British shipsand 11 German ships werelost in this indecisive, yeteffective action, which came tobe called the Battle of Jutlandand ensured that the GermanHigh Seas Fleet never ven-tured out in force again.

Aircraft were also used exten-sively in WWI. The Navyestablished a large SeaplaneBase at Houton, and a KiteBalloon Station at Caldale, StOla. These hydrogen blimpswere used by ships for spot-ting purposes when going intoaction. They were deployed,carrying observers, from thedecks of ships at altitudes of150-300m.

Houton Bay Air Station Late in1916 the Houton Bay AirStationwas in action and Shortseaplanes were flying subma-rine-hunting patrols. By early1917 the U-boats had becomea very serious threat to theconduct of the war, due totheir laying of mines and the

WORLD WAR I BeforeWWI the Navy held exercis-es in Scapa Flow most years,often involving up to 100ships. Just before the start ofthe war, the Grand Fleet putto sea and dispersed to Scapa.Nothing had yet been done torender the harbour secureagainst attack and the fleetwas continually under threatof U-boats or even a daringdestroyer attack.

At least one U-boat penetrat-ed Hoxa Sound in November

1914. U18 reached almost asfar as the boom defence netand, seeing that there wereonly a few destroyers in theFlow, the Captain decided toretreat. Unfortunately for thesubmarine, the periscope wasspotted and a minesweeperrammed and severely dam-aged the hull, finally forcing itto surface and surrender.

Sea defences were slowlyimproved with 21 blockshipssunk at the eastern approach-es, anti-submarine nets sus-

pended between long lines ofdrifters, boom defences andvarious guns mounted oncoastal positions. Controlledminefields were also laid andby summer 1915 the fleet wasreasonably secure in its base.

The weather was often asmuch of a hazard as theGermans, with fog a consider-able danger, while gales oftencaused chaos to anti-subma-rine nets and even severe dam-age to battleships. A furtherdanger was mines, laid byGerman ships and sub-marines.

Coastal defences at the startof the war amounted to only afew 3 and 12-pounder gunshastily mounted on Hoxa andStanger Heads. By summer1915 new coastal defence bat-teries with 4in and 4.7in gunshad been installed and latermore powerful 6in guns camefrom USA.

In 1917 about 1,200 Marineswere manning these guns,which were never used inanger. They had served theirpurpose all the same in deter-ring an attack by surface ves-

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HISTORY 20TH CENTURY

HMS Iron Duke - Flagship of Grand Fleet from Aug 1914 to Jan 1917

Shorts 320 seaplane, one of the types used in anti-submarine patrols

Sopwith Camel aircraft aboard HMS Furious in 1918

HMS Furious, was the first real aircraft carrier

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SCAPA FLOW IN WORLD WAR I

Coaling ship was a dirty and unpleasant task

The Battle of Jutland was indecisive, but the German High Sea Fleet never ventured forth again

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Navigational Errors On 12January 1918 two British Mclass destroyers, HMS Opaland HMS Narborough (1042tons) ran ashore together atfull speed at Windwick on thesouth-east side of SouthRonaldsay. Weather condi-tions were bad, with snow-storms and a severe gale. Thevessels ploughed into therocks at speed, and there wasonly one survivor, AbleSeaman William Sissons.

There is an interesting sequelto this sad event: “John GeorgeHalcro was clambering over thecliffs on one occasion and cameacross the nest of a cormorant.They scavenge bits of metal -lead and cordite from the wreck,to line their nests with. But inthis particular nest was some-thing glinting, it was a piece ofmetal. On closer inspection, itturned out to be the brass nameplaque from a ship's ditty box,bearing the name F.Rotchell .”

Years later, in 2000, a familycalled Rotchell were research-ing their Great uncle, who wasknown to have been lost onHMS Opal. They wereamazed to hear the tale related

by Willy Budge and even moreto later receive the brass nameplate found by John Halcro.

U-Boats On 28 October1918, the German submarineUB116 tried to enter ScapaFlow through Hoxa Sound. Itwas detected by hydrophones,then by electrical detectorloops on the seabed and final-ly sunk in the controlled mine-field off Quoyness on Flotta.The wreck was blown up dur-ing attempts to remove a livetorpedo in 1975. UB116 wassoon to be joined by manyother German ships, duringthe Grand Scuttle.

use of torpedoes against ship-ping. Air power was still in itsinfancy and while mainte-nance was a problem due tolack of enough engineers andcarpenters, hits were achievedon U-boats.

Experiments using the firstaircraft carriers in an anti-sub-marine role were also con-ducted. HMS Campania, aconverted liner, was the firstsuch ship. Balloons proved tobe an effective anti-submarinemeasure when flotillas of sev-eral destroyers all flying bal-loons worked together. Theintroduction of the first work-ing depth charges was alsoimportant.

The Northern Patrol coveredthe sea area between Iceland,Scotland and Norway andintercepted 15,000 ships dur-ing World War I. The block-ade was carried out by the 10th

Cruiser Squadron, most ofwhich were armed merchantships, and in all weathers. TheSquadron proved itself aneffective force in the blockadeof Germany and played a deci-sive part in ending the slaugh-ter in the trenches.

HMS Hampshire There weretragic losses in the Scapa Flowarea also. The sinking ofHMS Hampshire (11,000tons) on 5 June 1916 by sub-marine-laid mines underlinedthe need for minesweepingand anti-submarine measures.She had left Scapa Flow at16:40 during an unseasonableforce 9 gale. Kitchener, theMinister for War, was aboardon his way to confer with theCzar’s government in Russia.Instead of taking the easternroute which had been recentlyswept for mines, she wentwestabout. Her two accompa-

nying destroyers were unableto keep up due to the high seasand had turned back.

About 19:40 she struck mineswhich had been laid by U75off Marwick Head and sankwithin 20 minutes with theloss of all but 12 hands. Therewas much public disquietwhen the Stromness lifeboatwas prevented from launch-ing, and locals were notallowed to try to help themany survivors who perished.

HMS Vanguard (19,700tons) blew up with the loss ofall but two of her crew on 9July 1917. The deaths of over800 men in this disaster,which was thought to be dueto an internal cordite explo-sion, caused much rethinkingin the design of British battle-ships. HMS Vanguardremains an Official WarGrave. One of the men lostaboard her was a liaison offi-cer from the Imperial JapaneseNavy, Commander KyosukeEto, who came from Gonohe,Aomori in the north of Japan.There is a small display aboutEto and the ship in theGonohe Library.

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HISTORY 20TH CENTURY

Sole survivor from HMS Opal

HMS Vanguard blew up and sank off Flotta in 1917

Brass plaque from HMS Opal

HMS Opal was lost off Windwick

WORLD WAR IPLACES TO VISIT

Kirkwall Orkney MuseumSt Ola Carness Battery

Caldale CampOrphir Houton Base

Upper Sower BatteryBirsay Marwick HeadStromness Ness BatteryHolm Clett BatteryBurray Blockship ReginaldS Ronaldsay Hoxa Head Battery

WindwickHoy Martello Towers

LynessFlotta Innan Neb Battery

Roan Head BatteryStanger Head BatteryHMS Vanguard buoyPrudentia buoy

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HMS Vanguard memorial at Lyness

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HMS Hampshire was commissioned in 1905 and sank in 1916

Cmdr Eto meets King George V Kitchener leaves Scapa Flow

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the destroyers were moored inpairs around the west side ofFara. There was a 24 hourdrifter patrol with an armedparty aboard.

Soldiers' Councils wereformed on each ship and theymade the ships' officers jobsalmost impossible until someof the more militant wereshipped home. Von Reuterended up transferring to theSMS Emden as things had gotso bad on the flagship.Eventually the crews were fur-ther reduced to about 1,700and all maintenance wasstopped.

When the Armistice termswere discussed in Versailles inMay 1919 the German Navywas clearly going to bereduced to a token force.Plans to scuttle were immedi-ately set in motion. TheArmistice was due to end on21 June, but talks broke downa few days before this. Thedeadline was extended to 23June, and agreed by a newGerman Government, butVon Reuter was not informedof this.

The Grand Scuttle Hethought that a state of waragain existed between theAllies and Germany. and at10:30 on 21 June, after theBritish Fleet had left itsanchorage for exercises,Reuter ordered the signalParagraph eleven, the code toscuttle. Preparations hadalready been made on all theships to facilitate scuttling.

These included jamming allwatertight doors open, open-ing valves, portholes andhatches and disabling controlsfor flooding valves on decklevel.

The first ship to sink wasSMS Friedrich der Grösse, at12:16, followed by the othercapital ships, with SMSMarkgraf being the last to go

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German sailors abandoning a destroyer SMS Hindenberg sank upright in shallow water

German Fleet in Scapa Flow, winter 1918

Ensign from SMS Hindenberg

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ARMISTICE At the end ofthe First World War, underthe terms of the Armistice,Germany agreed to surrenderthe majority of her Navy. On21 November 1918 theBritish Grand Fleet, togetherwith Allied vessels, 250 war-ships in all, led by HMSQueen Elizabeth underAdmiral Beatty, set sail fromthe Forth to meet them.

The German High Seas Fleetin line ahead was led by SMSFriedrich der Grösse betweenthe two long lines of Britishships, which then turned,

sandwiching the German col-umn. No risks were taken,guns being trained and actionstations observed as theysteamed initially to the ForthEstuary, before going to ScapaFlow for internment.

The first surrendered shipsarrived on 23 November andthe rest followed over the nextweeks, to eventually number74. Admiral von Reuter with5,000 men stayed to under-take care and maintenance ofthe ships which were,"Disarmed and dishonoured", asReuter says in his report.

There had already beenmutiny in the German Navybefore the end of hostilitiesand matters were notimproved by the conditionsaboard the interned vessels.The German sailors were notallowed ashore, or to visitother ships, their food waspoor and the ships were notdesigned for long periods ofliving on board. Disciplinewas virtually non-existent, butconditions gradually improvedas supplies became properlyorganised. The battleshipsand battlecruisers wereanchored around Cava, while

The German Fleet in Scapa Flow on 28 November 1918 by Tom Kent

ORKNEY’S GERMAN FLEET

SMS Bayern sank at 14:30, salvaged in 1933SMS Derfflinger sank at 14:45, salvaged in1939

ing out. In June 1927 the hulkwas successfully raised andwas soon followed by others.

Metal Industries Ltd tookover salvage work in 1932, andwere soon raising battleshipswith great regularity. The lastaccessible big ship was SMSDerfflinger, which lay in 45mof water and it took a year'swork before she broke the sur-face in July 1939. It was to be1946, however, before she wasto be towed away for breaking.

Salvage work continued afterWorld War II, but was nowrestricted to blasting open theremaining ships to access theirprecious metals, especiallyCopper, Brass, Bronze, GunMetal and steel armour plat-ing. These operations ceasedby the end of the 1970s andthe remaining wrecks weretaken over by Orkney IslandsCouncil for their protection.

The German Fleet todaySeven large ships remain atthe bottom of Scapa Flow,comprising three battleships:SMS Krönprinz Wilhelm,SMS Markgraf and SMSKönig, plus four light cruisers:SMS Dresden II, SMS Cöln,SMS Karlsrühe and SMSBrümmer. There are also fourdestroyers and a great deal ofdebris scattered about. All ofthe ships except SMS DresdenII have been severely damagedby salvage work. She waslargely left alone because ofher late construction date, bywhich time Germany wasshort of many materials,including metals.

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A diver explores one of the wrecks

Diver exploring the deck of SMS Dresden

SMS Seydlitz looked like a sleeping whale until salvaged

Divers inspect a 5.9in gun on one of the battleships

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at 16:45. Some destroyersand cruisers were beached bythe returning British, who alsoshot several of the Germancrewmen, including theCaptain of SMS Markgraf.

The tug Flying Kestrel hadmeanwhile been on a sightsee-ing trip around Scapa Flowwith a group of school chil-dren, who had a grandstandview. One, James Taylor, laterwrote, "On Saturday June 211919, I rose very early, as it wouldnever do to be late for a school treatwhich was to take the form of acruise on the “Flying Kestrel” tovisit the surrendered GermanFleet. The thought of sailing up tothem made us boys almost sickwith excitement!

At long last we came face to face

with the Fleet. Their decks werelined with German sailors who didnot seem too pleased to see us.Suddenly without any warningand almost simultaneously thesehuge vessels began to list over toport or starboard; some heeled overand plunged headlong, their sternslifted high out of the water.

Out of the vents rushed steam andoil and air with a dreadful roaringhiss. And as we watched,awestruck and silent, the seabecame littered for miles roundwith boats and hammocks, lifebeltsand chests....and among it all hun-dreds of men struggling for theirlives. As we drew away from thisnightmare scene we watched thelast great battleship slide downwith keel upturned like some mon-strous whale."

Reuter and his staff were givena severe dressing down aboardHMS Revenge, before beingmarched away as prisoners ofwar. His reply was that, “hewas sure that any English navalofficer would have done thesame in equivalent circum-stances.”

Salvage The Admiralty hadsaid that the wrecks would beleft to rot and were no hazardto shipping, but it was notlong before boats started torun aground on the hulks. By1922 the first destroyer hadbeen salvaged and taken toStromness. In 1923 aShetlander bought 4 of thedestroyers and had workedout a method using airbags tolift them.

Then in 1924 the Man whobought a Navy, Ernest Cox,bought SMS Hindenberg andSMS Seydlitz plus 24 smallerships. He eventually claimedall the rest and his firm, Cox &Danks, soon set to work onsalvage. 24 destroyers werelifted in 20 months, and soonattention was turned to thebattleships.

SMS Hindenberg had settledon an even keel with her fun-nels and upperworks abovethe water. Holes wereplugged, but despite severalefforts it was 1930 before shewas raised. Meanwhile Coxstarted work on SMS Möltke,and for the first time usedcompressed air to force waterout. Old boilers were used asairlocks, both to allow entryby divers and to stop air leak-

Whaler aground on the upturned hull of SMS Seydlitz

Salvage work soon started after the “Grand Scuttle”

Cruisers The four other shipsare all similar. SMS Brümmerwas the smallest (4,308 tons,139m long, 13m beam by 6mdraught, 42,797SHP and speed28 knots), while SMS Dresden IIand SMS Cöln (5,531 tons,153m long, 14m beam by 6.5mdraught, 49,000SHP, speed 29knots) are of the Dresden II class.

SMS Karlsrühe (Königsberg IIclass, 5,440 tons, 139m long,14m beam by 6m draught,37,885SHP, speed 28 knots) issimilar to SMS Cöln and SMSDresden. All of these ships werelightly armoured and armedwith eight 5.9in guns (four onSMS Brümmer) plus up to 200mines.

All 3 of these vessels were quitenew, having been built between1915 and 1917. Lightlyarmoured fast mine-laying cruis-ers, they were designed to dis-rupt merchant shipping. Theyhad limited success due toBritain’s overwhelming controlof the sea surface for most of thewar. Submarines proved farmore successful in destroyingshipping, whether by torpedoesor minelaying.

All of these ships are today ofgreat interest to the many recre-ational divers who come toexplore them every year.Although they may not havebeen very successful in theirplanned missions, they haveproven to be of lasting appeal intheir present role.

Battleships The three battle-ships are all of the König class,and were completed in 1914.They carried ten 12in guns in fiveturrets, and a secondary arma-ment of fourteen 5.9in guns, ten3.34in guns and five 19.7in tor-pedo tubes. These ships werewell armoured with 13.8in mainarmour., while the decks had 4inplating. Conditions for the 1,136crew were basic, unlike similarBritish ships which weredesigned to spend many monthsat sea.

With a displacement of 25,390tons, length of 173m, beam of29m and draught of 9m, thesewere large ships. Powered bythree coal and oil fired boilersdriving their 46,000SHP tur-bines through three propellersthey could do up to 21 knots.

Today all three battleships lieupside down on the bottom ofScapa Flow. They have beenripped apart by salvage operatorsover the years, but still remain animpressive sight to divers. Theyare covered with sponges andanemones, which add to thecolour and interest.

These battleships were all atJutland, where SMS Markgrafand SMS König took many hits.None made any significantimpact on the war thereafter,although SMS KrönprinzWilhelm was struck by a Britishtorpedo whilst trying to rescueU20 (which had recently sunkLusitania) off Denmark. Theyare of particular historical signifi-cance as they are the only WWIbattleships still in existence.

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SMS Cöln is in good condition and lies at about 35m

SMS Dresden II was salvaged less than others and lies at about 35m

SMS Karlsrühe has been much salvaged but is a shallow dive at about 26m

SMS Brümmer is largely intact forward and lies at about 36m


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SMS Markgraf sank at about 14:30 and lies at a depth of about 45m

SMS König sank about 14:00 and lies at a depth of about 35m

SMS Krönprinz Willhelm sank about 13:15 and lies at a depth of about 40m


Scapa Flow showing positions of remaining German Fleet

strong west-going ebb tidehad built up.

The lighthouses at Rosenessand Pentland Skerries wereturned on at 22:00 on the 12th,no doubt due to shippingmovements, but also allowingPrien to have an accurate posi-tion. The next night at aboutmidnight, U47 crept intoKirk Sound, passed the mostnortherly blockship on thesurface, snagged a cable, camefree and was soon in ScapaFlow, unobserved despite thenoise of her diesel engines andthe lights of a turning carshining on them.

On the night of the 13th

October 1939 there were infact about 50 British warshipsin Scapa Flow, including thenew HMS Belfast, and severalother cruisers. Destroyers, aswell as many supply ships,auxiliaries and so on were alsothere, but no modern capitalships or aircraft carriers.

Most were anchored at thewestern side of the Flow, nearLyness, except for the old bat-tleship HMS Royal Oak andthe venerable sea-plane carri-er, HMS Pegasus, which weremoored in Scapa Bay, belowGaitnip. HMS Royal Oak,with her considerable anti-air-craft firepower was there aslocal air defence forNetherbutton radar station, asshore-based AA was not yetinstalled in quantity.

Although there was no moon,the Northern Lights werebright that night, thus allow-

ing Prien to see the two shipsto the north. At about 01:00and from about 3,000m hefired three shots, and one hitthe HMS Royal Oak at thebow inflicting little apparentdamage, but causing bothanchor chains to run out.

In fact the crew thought it wasan internal explosion in apaint store. After reloading,three more torpedoes werefired and a few minutes laterthe ship was rocked by threedetonations. The HMS RoyalOak sank within 15 minuteswith the loss of 833 crew outof a total of about 1,200 offi-cers and men.

That so many were saved wasdue partly to the promptaction of the crew of thedrifter Daisy II, which wasmoored alongside, as well asthe quick response of Pegasusin getting its boats off to aid inthe rescue work. The calm-ness of the weather that nightalso helped greatly. The vastmajority were rescued by theDaisy and Skipper Gatt wasawarded the DSC for his part.

Meanwhile U47 slipped awayon the surface, this time takingthe south side of Kirk Soundand within a short time shehad stemmed the stronglyrunning ebb tide and madegood her escape. The next day

WORLD WAR II ScapaFlow at the outbreak of WorldWar II was still very lightlydefended. Many of the block-ships sunk in World War I toblock the eastern approacheshad been shifted by the tide,or had disintegrated due tothe effects of sea and wind.There were gaps betweenthem in Kirk Sound, throughwhich a submarine could pass.More blockships had beenprocured and there were plansfor coastal defences, but byearly October 1939 these hadstill not been put in place.

The Germans noticed this byphoto-reconnaissance andCommodore Dönitz, incharge of the U-boat com-mand, decided to attempt anattack on Scapa Flow. U47,commanded by Lt. GuntherPrien was selected to under-take the mission. It leftWilhelmshaven on 8th

October. The German Navyalso dispatched Gneisenau,Köln and nine destroyers tothe North Sea to lure out theBritish Navy. They succeededin drawing out several battle-ships, cruisers and destroyers

from Rosyth and Scapa on 8th

October.

No contact was made and allunits returned to port.However, the British battle-ships returned to Loch Ewerather than Scapa. Thus thedaring submarine mission wassabotaged by its own Navybefore Prien even reachedScapa Flow. The arrival wascarefully timed to coincidewith a new moon, when highwater at Kirk Sound wasabout 23:30. The plan was toenter at slack water, before the

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SCAPA FLOW IN WORLD WAR II

Kirk Sound with blockships, which was successfully negotiated by U47

HMS Royal Oak underway from starboard quarter

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SCAPA FLOW - THE SINKING OF HMS ROYAL OAK

HMS Royal Oak at speed off Scapa Flow

German U-boat U47 - model in Stromness MuseumTorpedo propeller from wreck site

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ship, as do the remains of theAdmiral's Barge. The shape ofthe ship shows up clearly on amodern echo sounder and canoften be seen from the air.

Every year the Admiraltyholds a ceremony over thewreck and divers place anensign in position in remem-brance of the crew who werelost. Survivors and relatives ofthe crew are often present atthis time. In 1996 the wreckwas surveyed in detail as theamount of fuel oil still ema-nating from her tanks as theship slowly corrodes was caus-ing concern.

The Royal Navy has alreadyremoved much of this pollu-tion hazard by pumping theoil out of the many tanks.

an old steamer, the LakeNeuchatel was sunk in KirkSound, too late to save HMSRoyal Oak. Prien and his crewwere given a tremendous wel-come in Germany. He wasinvested personally by Hitlerwith the Knight's Cross of theIron Cross, which became thetraditional decoration forexceptional U-boat com-manders. Meanwhile Dönitzwas promoted to RearAdmiral.

A few days later the Luftwaffecarried out bombing raids andit was not until March 1940that the Home Fleet returnedto Scapa Flow, by now heavilydefended by anti-aircraft andcoastal batteries, improvedminefields, indicator loopsand more blockships.

Churchill himself had themagnanimity to admit thatPrien and his crew had carriedout "a magnificent feat of arms".Although the loss of HMSRoyal Oak was tragic for thoselost, it was a salutary lessonfor the British Navy and wasto result in Scapa Flow beingmade into a safe base for theHome Fleet.

Much controversy raged at thetime about the sinking of theHMS Royal Oak. This wasfinally resolved when localdivers Eric Kemp and DavieGorn, diving near the wreck,found the remains of the pro-pellers and gearboxes of twotorpedoes of the type used byGerman U-boats in 1939.One of these may be seen inStromness Museum.

HMS ROYAL OAKTODAY

HMS Royal Oak, an officialwar grave, lies in about 27m ofwater, beneath the Gaitnipcliffs. She is marked by agreen buoy and her position isclearly seen from the oil slickcaused by fuel leaking fromher bunkers. Diving on herwithout permission is prohib-ited. There is a memorial tothe men who lost their lives inthe tragedy in St. MagnusCathedral and a memorialgarden has been established atScapa Beach.

The ship lies upside-down atabout 45° to the seabed. Themasts broke off when sheturned over and the main gunsare stuck into the seabed. Thespotting top lies next to the

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The spotting top lies next to the ship

HMS ROYAL OAKBattleship Royal Sovereign Class

Constructed HM Dockyard,Devonport, laid down 1914, complet-ed 1916Displacement Design 25,750, finally29,150, full load 35,000 tonsMeasurements Length 186m, beam26.5m increased to 30.5m, with anti-torpedo blisters, draught 10mPropulsion Originally designed to becoal-fired, this class was changed tooil-fired during construction4 sets of Parsons steam turbines to 4propellersPerformance 40,000 SHP and 23knotsArmour Main belt 10in, armourdeck 1.75in, increased to 4in at refit,Turrets 11in, control top 10inArmament eight x 15in main arma-ment in twin turrets; eight x 6in sec-ondary; eight x 4in AA high/lowangle; two pom-pom AA mountings 8x 40mm; two 4-barrelled 0.5in AAmachine gunsRefits Refitted several times, HMSRoyal Oak's last major refit was in1934/35, equipment was updatedand 900 tons of extra deck-armouradded. This reduced her buoyancyand stability and made her an evenwetter ship. She had a catapult for aspotter-plane, new gun direction andnew radio equipment fitted. In 1937she was reckoned to be the best-equipped Royal Sovereign class bat-tleship. By 1939 she was obsolete.

Diver examines the breech of one of the 15in main guns

Buoy over wreck of HMS Royal Oak

Bell and memorial in Cathedral

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Peter R

owland

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Navy ship removing oil

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SCAPA FLOW - SINKING OF HMS ROYAL OAK

Fuel oil leaking out of the wreck is a pollution hazard and is being removed by the Royal Navy

The Admiral’s Barge lies next to the ship’s hull Secondary 6in gun mounting on side deck

Eric

Kem

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Eric

Kem

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total of over 3,000 by 1944.

A large number of personnelwas needed to install and oper-ate all this equipment and a hugeprogramme of hut building,road making and other infra-structure thus ensued.Eventually many of these instal-lations were directed by gun-lay-ing (GL) radar. Operationswere all controlled from the for-mer Black Building in Kirkwall.

Air Raids The defences hadtheir first trial in mid-March1940-with a substantial air raid,the first major attack on aBritish target by the Luftwaffe.After the invasion of Norway inApril 1940 the Germans wereonly 300 miles away, and thusposed a much greater threat toScapa Flow. There were regularsorties over Orkney, but littledamage ensued. Several enemyaircraft were brought down byAA fire or RAF fighters.

After the failure of the Luftwaffein 1940 against the RAF andthe invasion of Russia in June1941 the German aerial threatwas greatly diminished, but theU-boat menace was increasing.

Scapa Flow remained a crucialnaval base throughout the Battleof the Atlantic. During 1943and 1944 searchlights, AA guns,

barrage balloons and personnelwere transferred to defendLondon from V1 flying bombs.

DEFENCE Two days after thesinking of HMS Royal Oak theGermans made their first airattack on Scapa Flow. HMS IronDukewas seriously damaged andthe first enemy aircraft, a JU88,was brought down by AA fire.The Admiralty and the Armyreacted quickly and by mid-1940defences against underwater, sur-face and air attack were all greatlystrengthened.

Coastal defences were extend-ed and improved to cover themain entrances of Hoxa, Swithaand Hoy Sound and werebacked up by new controlledminefields and indicator loopsto detect and destroy intruders.Coastal gun batteries wereimproved and many new siteswere built. Nineteen were inoperation by June 1940, withmore to follow. New search-

lights were also installed inmany coastal positions.

Many of these coastal batteriesremain prominent in the land-scape today, having survived amassive tidy up of wartimerelics. Virtually all are situatedin places with panoramic views.Ness Battery in Stromness is thebest preserved and retains itshutted accommodation.

Anti-aircraft (AA) defenceswere also hugely increased.Eventually there were over 80heavy (HAA) guns as well asnearly 40 light (LAA) positionsaround Scapa Flow, togetherwith over 100 searchlights.

The British Barrage BalloonCommand was set up in 1938.The purpose was to protect tar-gets such as ports and key indus-trial areas from low flying air-craft. The idea was to discour-age torpedo and dive bombersfrom attacking warships mooredin Scapa Flow. The balloonswere also supposed to makeattacking aircraft fly higherwhere AA guns might be moreeffective. Scapa Flow had up to80 barrage balloons, out of a UK

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3.7in anti aircraft gun firing - there were 80 such units around Scapa Flow


There were many searchlights around the coastGunner loading a 6 pounder rapid firing gun

The “Scapa barrage” in action before radar coverage was improved

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Launching a barrage balloon in WWII

COASTAL AND AERIAL DEFENCE

Gunner with shellGunnery training at Yesnaby

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Chain Home Low (CHL) wasinstalled to fill lack of low levelcover available from the fixedCH system. CHL was devel-oped from the CD (CoastalDefence) radars that were firstinstalled to detect shipping in1939. These radars used rotat-ing aerials on a single mast, witha frequency of 200MHz and apeak power of 150kW.

In Orkney there were CHL sta-tions at Crustan in Birsay, onThe Ward in Deerness and onWard Hill on South Ronaldsay.CHL allowed the detection ofaircraft flying at 500ft from upto 25 miles, but German pilotssoon leaned to evade detectionby going below 100ft.

CHEL By 1943 these installa-tions were upgraded by ChainHome Extra Low equipmentwhich used cavity magnetronsto generate microwave beams.These could detect aircraft fly-ing at less than 100ft from over30mi.

Data from all of these was fedinto the Ground ControlInterception Station (GCI),which was ultimately in theBlack Building near Kirkwall,now demolished by the Council.From here AA guns and fighteraircraft were controlled whenev-er enemy aircraft intrusionswere detected.

Orkney Wireless Museum, inKirkwall,has displays, equip-

ment and information aboutWWII radar and other histori-cal radio and electronic aspectsof the war.

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Radar was a crucial part ofBritish air defence in WWII. Itwas developed in the 1930s andby 1939 the whole of the eastcoast from Portland to ScapaFlow was covered by the firstsuch network. This was toprove crucial in the Battle ofBritain,

Chain Home (CH) was alsoknown as Air MinistryExperiments Station Type 1. Ittransmitted a beam about 100owide at 20-50MHz with a

power of 1-2MW. The arraywas fixed, with 4 110m highmetal towers which held thetransmitting array and 4 73mhigh wooden towers holding thereceiving aerials. Aircraft couldbe detected up to 120mi(190km) away. However below5,000ft CH was ineffective.

The station at Netherbutton inHolm was operational by June1939. A second CH station wasbuilt at Lopness in Sandaywhich came into service by

March 1942. This site had allround coverage and a power of2MW. It was called RAFWhalehead. The Netherbuttonstation was initially a temporaryinstallation with parts takenfrom several other sites. It wasupgraded later in 1939 and byJuly 1941 its all round coveragehad been fully calibrated. AfterWWII the station was upgrad-ed with new equipment, but by1955 RAF Netherbutton wasobsolete and closed.

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RAF Netherbutton transmitter pylons were 110m high

Chain Home Low mastNetherbutton, Holm, the most northerly of the “Chain Home” radar sites

RADAR AND AERIAL DEFENCE

Chain Home radar coverage in 1939

Operator at a radar screen - their judgement was crucialWWII Radar equipment in the Orkney Wireless Museum WWII Chain Home Low equipment

RNAS Twatt airfield (HMSTern), in Birsay, became opera-tional in 1941 and was usedmainly as a training station.Work was started in April 1941to build 4 concrete runways, allof which were over 700m long.Many of the buildings can stillbe seen today. The controltower survived a demolitionteam and there are plans torestore it as a museum.

Over 4,000 personnel weretaught in its Fighter DirectorSchool from 1943. Pilots, airtraffic controllers and radaroperators well all trained here, inwhat had become a sfae reararea. At least 20 different typesof aircraft were based here ortransited.

Some of the first helicopterswere based here in 1945. TheSikorsky R4 Gadfly was the firsthelicopter to land on a warship.in April 1945. Sub LieutenantBristow of 771 Squadron set hisfloat equipped aircraft down onA turret of HMS Anson inScapa Flow, thus demonstrating the possibilities of thesemachines in naval opperations.

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AIRFIELDS With the loom-ing threat of war, the AirMinistry and the Admiralty sur-veyed the country for suitablesites for air bases. Betweenthem four locations were select-ed. Three squadrons ofHurricanes were based at Wickfrom February 1940. This air-field was operational bySeptember 1939 and was a busyCoastal Command stationthroughout the war.

RNAS Hatston (HMSSparrowhawk) was opened in1939 as a Fleet Air Arm base,one of the first airfields in UK tohave a hard runway. It was fromhere that 800 Squadron’s Skuasoperated anti-shipping patrolsin 1940. On 10th April 1940 16of them dive-bombed theGerman cruiser, Königsberg(5,600 tons) at Bergen with theloss of only one aircraft. She wasdestroyed, the first major war-ship to be sunk by air attack.

Needless to say the Admiraltydid not take heed of its ownlesson. In 1941 HMS Repulseand HMS Prince of Wales weresent to Singapore after theJapanese invasion of IndoChina. Both were promptlysunk by bombs from aircraft.

From late 1940 Hatston wasused mainly by squadrons basedon aircraft carriers for repairsand training. It had the distinc-tion of hosting the aircraft andcrew from USS Waspwhile theywere en route to Malta in April1942, the first British base to doso in WWII. Later the USSRangerused the Hatston for thesame purpose.

The many aircraft types whichused the base included amongothers Skuas, Rocs, Walrus,Swordfish, Albacores, Martlets,Avengers, Barracudas, Spitfiresand Seafires.

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Fairey swordfish lined up on the apron at Hatston

Blackburn Skua - the first aircraft to sink a large warship by bombing

Sikorsky Gadfly landing on HMS Anson April 1945

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Supermarine Spitfire V of no 72 squadron

US Devastator dive bombers from USS Wasp at HMS Sparrowhawk, 1942

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Grumman Avengers lined up on the apron at Hatston

Hatston control tower in WWII

RAF Wickwas requisitioned atthe start of WWII and by lateSeptember 1939 803 Squadronwere patrolling Scapa Flow withSkuas. Hard runways, hangarsand many other buildings wereconstructed. It became aCoastal Command airfield, thefirst RAF squadron being 269with Avro Ansons. One of theseaircraft sank a U-boat off Capewrath in December 1939. In1940 43, 111 and 504Squadrons all arrived, equippedwith Hurricanes to defend ScapaFlow. Once the Orkney airfieldsbecame operational Wickceased to be a fighter base andreverted to its CoastalCommand role.

Aircraft Types The RAF andFAA operated a large number ofdifferent aircraft from Orkneybases in WWII. Old fashionedtypes such as the Skua andSwordfish proved very effective atdisabling large warships.Spitfires acted as a strong deter-ent to enemy bombers. ButScapa Flow’s main job inWWII was to be a secure navalbase. Aircraft carriers were ableto have their machines servicedand crews rested in saftey.

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With the development ofincreasingly effective ship andairborne radars setting up andcalibration was crucial. Severalaircraft were based at Twatt forjust this duty. Helicoptersproved to be very suitable forthis type of work.

RAF Skeabrae was an RAFstation which was built in 1940.It was initially a NavalAirstation, the first squadronarriving in October 1940. OnChristmas Day 1940 a Martlet

patrol from here sighted a JU88.It was forced down in Sandwick.This type became the first USfighter to shoot down an enemyaircraft in WWII.

In early 1941 Skeabrae wastaken over by the RAF, whenthree squadrons of Hurricanesarrived. Spitfires, Blenheims andBeaufighterswere among the air-craft toyes based here. The air-field had 3 runways, each of850m. It was considered fordevelopment as a modern air-

port to support oil explorationdevelopemnts in the 1970s butnothing came of the idea.

Although the control tower wasdemolished in the 1980s,numerous buildings remain.These include the OperationsBuilding, a Power House, theFire Station and theDecontamination Centre. TheCinema is in particularly goodcondition. Dispersal banks, airraid shelters and the runways areall prominent.

RAF Grimsetter , nowKirkwall Airport, became oper-ational in October 1940. It wasused as a satellite to Skeabrae,but in June 1943 132 Squadronmoved here with Spitfires. Twoother RAF squadrons operatedhere until the station was takenover by the Royal Navy andrenamed HMS Robin.

A large variety of carrier-basedaircraft used the airfield fortraining and working-up. In allover 20 squadrons during theconflict with aircraft typesincluding Swordfish, Walrus,Seafire and Avengers. In 1948Grimsetter became Orkney’scivil airport..

RAF Castletown opened inMay 1940 at Thursidtoft nearDunnet Bay in Caithness. Itbecame part of 13 Group,Fighter Command, initiallywith Hurricanes of 504Squadron. Later convoy pro-tection and coastal patrols wereoperated from here. Finally themain emphasis became air-searescue.

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Remains of a crashed Grumman Avenger, Kirkwall Bay

Grumman Martlet taking off from an aircraft carrier in Scapa Flow

Former CO Rotherton revisits RNAS Twatt

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Supermarine Spitfire of 164 Squadron at Skeabrae in 1942

RAF Skaebrae under construction in 1940

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Junkers JU88 downed by 804 Squadron from Skeabrae 25th December 1940

Fairey Swordfish proved to be very effective torpedo bombers

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charged for 16 hours in the eas-ten Mediterranean. The latestEnigma machine and codebooks were recovered, but withthe loss of two brave Royal Navypersonnel.

This allowed the codebreakersat Bletchley Park to resumereading Nazi Naval signals.Later the US Navy captured U-505 intact along with its latestcodes. It now resides at theMuseum of Science in Chicago.

Anti-Submarine Warfaredeveloped along several lines.These included electronicdevices such as SONAR,RADAR and HF/DF, whichcould locate U-boats. Depthcharges dropped by aircraft andnew shipboard weapon such asHedgehog and Squid also helped.

The main contributory factor tothe defeat of the U-boats wasthe combination of the abovewith continuous air cover. Thiswas provided partly by longrange aircraft such as Catalinas,Sunderlands and Liberators.Aircraft carriers with destroyerescorts were also used in num-bers to escort convoys.

Naval Battles Several dramaticset-piece naval battles originatedfrom Orkney. The Kriegsmarinehad relatively few surface ships,but thier fleet was modern andpowerful. It was seen as a seri-ous threat if it were able to breakout into the Atlantic and attackconvoys. This was especially thecase during 1941 and 1942when merchant shipping losseswere already very high.

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The Battle of the Atlantic com-menced at the outbreak ofWWII and was fought fero-ciously throughout. To have anychance of winning the warBritain needed supplies of food,raw materials, oil and manufac-tured goods, especially arma-ments. After the capitulation ofNorway and France in 1940, U-boats could operate freely acrossthe Atlantic.

Many factors incluenced theoutcome of the was but the real-ity of the Battle of the Atlantic

was mundane and brutal. It wasabout protecting merchant ship-ping from attack by U-boats. InWWII the Allies lost 2,452merchant ships, 175 warshipsand nearly 104,000 men in theNorth Atlantic, mostly tosubmarines.

RAF Coastal Command lost5,866 crew and 1,777 aircraft.Of the 1,162 U-boats built inGermany, 696 were sunk by theAllies and another 88 were oth-erwise lost. 25,870 Germancrew died, 76% of the total who

served. Germany could build 20or more U-boats per month andBritain could only afford to loseso many cargoes, ships andcrews.

Enigma The breaking of theNazi Army and Naval Enigmacodes did much to help theAllies. In May 1941 U-110wascaptured afloat off CapeFarewell in Greenland. TheEnigma machine and codebooks were retrieved. Again inOctober 1942 U-559was forcedto surface after being depth

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HMS Victorious was based at Scapa Flow for much of WWII, mostly on convoy defence duties

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THE HOME FLEET BASE

Arming an Albacore with a torpedo Observer at sea

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Corvettes such as HMS Lotus were an important part of convoy protection

Cruiser HMS Berwick leaving Scapa Flow via the Hoxa “gate”

Cruiser HMS Belfast in Scapa Flow

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HMS Fury leads other Ashanti class destroyers

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into action against an opponentmany times superior, will com-mand your ship as gallantly as theScharnhorst was commandedtoday."

Scharnhorst was sunk by superi-or intelligence, radar and fire-power. The British were able toread all of the radio traffic andhad far superior radar.

Tirpitz sinking By 1944 theGermans had only one remain-ing operational capital ship, theTirpitz. She was the sister shipto Bismarck and was completedin 1941. With a full load weightof 52,000 tons and a formidablearmament, range and strengthshe was considered a seriousthreat by the Royal Navy.

From early 1942 Tirpitz wasstationed in Norway as a threatto the Russian convoys. In 1943she was attacked and damagedby British mini submarines, andthereafter was the target of sev-eral RAF strikes. Eventually in1944 an attack by Lancasterswith 12,000lb Tallboy bombscaused the ship to capsize andbecome a total loss. During allthis time she had tided downmajor Royal Navy resources.

Scapa Flow Naval Base Thelarge number of personnelinvolved during WWII inOrkney resulted in a profusionof camps, roads, piers, buildingsand other structures, some ofwhich remain in use today.Most of the unsightly remainshave now either been clearedaway or have simply mergedwith the landscape.

The garrison reached over40,000 men and women at itsmaximum, excluding the crewsof warships and merchantmen,which could have numbered anadditional 40,000 men at times.The many Army personnel maynever have fired a gun in anger,but as a secure forward base inthe Eastern North Atlantic itwas eminently situated to helpwin the Battle of the Atlantic.

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Bismarck Sinking Theseincluded the sinking of theBismarck in May 1941. Herdepature from Bergen was firstspotted by a Martin Marylandfrom Hatston. A rask forceincluding HMS Hood, KingGeorge V and the carrierVictorious set out from ScapaFlow. The heavy cruisersNorfolk and Suffolk found andshadowed the German ships byradar.

During a 20 minute battle Hoodwas sunk and King George Vdamaged. However Birsmarckhad also taken hitsto her bow,and had problems with a boilerroom and electric plant.Swordfish from HMS ArkRoyal managed to disable herrudders by a lucky torpedo hitand the ship became unmaneau-verable.

Bismarck was hit by up to 400large calibre shells from HMSRodney and King George V. Shewas scuttled by her crew, ofwhom only 110 survived out ofa complement of 2,200.

ScharnhorstSinking The Battleof the North Cape ensued whenthe Scharnhorst, a 38,000tonbattleship, was sent to intercepta convoy off northern Norway.A Royal Navy squadron led byHMS Duke of York interceptedand sank the Scharnhorst on 26thDecember 1943. Only 36 sur-vived out of a crew of 1,968.

Admiral Bruce Fraser stated,"Gentlemen, the battle against theScharnhorst has ended in victoryfor us. I hope that any of you whoare ever called upon to lead a ship

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WORLD WAR IISITES TO VISIT

Kirkwall Black Building (site)Hatston airfield

St Ola Carness btyGrimsetter airfieldScapa, oil tanks

Orphir Houton HeadRendall Queenamuckle btyBirsay Northside radar

Twatt airfieldSandwick Yesnaby gun training

Skeabrae airfieldStromness Ness bty

Links btyHolm Clett bty

Netherbutton radarGraemeshall btyRockworks camp

Tankerness Rerwick Head btyDeerness battery site

radar siteLamb Holm Italian Chapel

Churchill BarriersLamb Holm bty

Burray Northfield btyHunda barrier

South Ron Balfour, Hoxa btyWard Hill radar siteCara bty

Hoy Scad Head btySkerry btyScad Head AA btySouth Walls radarLyness

Graemsay Oxan Point btyFlotta Buchanan bty

Stanger Head btyGate btyInnan Neb btyGolta btyNeb btyPiers and old cinema

Fara AA batteriesSanday Lopness radarShapinsay Castle bty

Galtness btybty=coastal defence battery


U-boat surrenders in 1945 off the Pentland Skerries

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THE HOME FLEET BASE

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HMS Duke of York sank Scharnhorst on 26 December 1943

HMS Hood was sunk by superb gunnery from the Bismarck

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Bismarck with her bows down, firing at British battleships

Scharnhorst was a formidable battleship with 11in guns

Tirpitz was destroyed by bombing in 1944 at Alten Fiord,

Documents

SCAPA FLOW IN WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II S F S I B · PDF fileSCAPA FLOW IN WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II. sels. By 1920 all the batteries had been dismantled and scrapped. Remains