X-Nico

4 unusual facts about Scapa Flow


Arthur Winnington-Ingram

Chaplain from 1901 to the London Rifle Brigade and London Royal Naval Volunteers, he visited the troops on both the Western Front and at Salonika and the Grand Fleet at Rosyth and Scapa Flow.

History of Orkney

The islands cluster round the huge deep-water anchorage of Scapa Flow like a protecting hand, and in both World War I and World War II, the Royal Navy had a major base there, enabling them to challenge any attempt by German warships to emerge into the ocean through the Norwegian Sea.

John Brandon-Jones

Posted to Scapa Flow on Orkney and placed in charge of the engineers' drawing office, he designed a temporary cinema.

Wilfred Ellershaw

Ellershaw died alongside Kitchener on 5 June 1916 when the boat he was on, HMS Hampshire, was torpedoed by a German U-boat at Scapa Flow.


A961 road

The road links four islands to the mainland, crossing four causeways known collectively as the Churchill Barriers, which were built during World War II as naval defences to protect the natural harbour of Scapa Flow after a successful attack by a German U-boat.

Bryn Allen

Whilst serving on the Duke of York, he took part in a football match at Scapa Flow against a team from the French battleship Richelieu.

Churchill Barriers

On 14 October 1939, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk at her moorings within the natural harbour of Scapa Flow in a nighttime attack by the German U-boat U-47 under the command of Günther Prien.

Far North Line

The line did become strategically important during World War I and World War II as part of a supply route for Scapa Flow, Orkney: Jellicoe's Express linked Thurso directly with London (Euston) and Portsmouth.

Herbert Hasler

In 1940, Hasler served as fleet landing officer in Scapa Flow, and was then sent to Narvik in support of the French Foreign Legion in the Norwegian campaign, for which duties he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), mentioned in despatches, and awarded the Croix de guerre.

Mistel

A second opportunity to use the Mistels, in Scapa Flow in 1944, was abandoned after the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz led to the departure of all of the Royal Navy's major surface units from the target.

South Walls

South Walls has substantial remains from the WWII period, when Scapa Flow was used as a Royal Navy base.


see also

Charlestown, Fife

Some of the German Imperial Fleet were brought here from Scapa Flow after World War I to be broken up.

Naval order of 24 October 1918

Prof. Arthur J. Marder (1969), From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, Vol.5: Victory and Aftermath (Oxford: Oxford University Press).