The Scapa Flow reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Scapa Flow

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Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. Surrounded by the islands The Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy, it is best known as the site of the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Second World Wars.

Already used by warships in the Viking era, the base remained in use by the Royal navy until 1956. During both World Wars, German U-boats tried to attack British ships in Scapa Flow. Both attempts in WWI failed and U-18 and U-116 were sunk. During WWII, U-47 penetrated Scapa Flow and caught HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Bay. U-47's torpedoes blew a 30 foot hole in Royal Oak which quickly sunk. 833 men out of the crew of 1,400 were lost. The wreck is now a protected war grave.

In Cockney rhyming slang, the word Scarper, meaning to run away, derives from Scapa Flow rhyming with "go".

German High Sea Fleet at Scapa Flow

Following the German defeat in the First World War, seventy-four ships of the Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet were interned at Scapa Flow pending a decision on their future in the peace Treaty of Versailles. They arrived in November 1918, after the Armistice, and soon became something of a tourist attraction. On June 21, 1919, Rear Admiral Ludvig von Reuter, the German officer in command at Scapa Flow, after waiting for the bulk of the British fleet to leave on exercises, gave the order to scuttle the ships to prevent them falling into British hands. Fifty one ships sank. The nine sailors killed were the last casualties of the First World War.

Ten battleships were sunk : SMS Bayern, SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm, SMS Markgraf, SMS Großer Kurfürst, SMS Prinzregent Luitpold, SMS Kaiser, SMS Kaiserin, SMS Friedrich der Große, SMS König Albert and SMS König. SMS Baden was saved from scuttling by beaching.

Five battlecruisers were sunk: SMS Hindenburg, SMS Derfflinger, SMS Seydlitz, SMS Moltke, SMS von der Tann.

Five cruisers were sunk: SMS Köln, SMS Karlsruhe, SMS Dresden, SMS Brummer and SMS Bremse. SMS Nürnberg, SMS Frankfurt and SMS Emden were beached.

Forty four torpedo boat destroyers were sunk:

Four were beached.


Ernest Cox bought and salvaged forty three of the High Seas Fleet in the 1920s, an achievement most people at the time thought impossible. He used a variety of techniques. He lifted the smaller ships with floating docks and hawsers. With the larger ships, culminating with the 28,000 ton SMS Hindenburg, he patched all holes and then pumped the hulls with compressed air to force out the water and make them float upside down. Eight of the wrecks are still in Scapa Flow, and are a popular target for divers.


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