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Royal OakThe Royal Oak is a war grave. The sinking of the Royal Oak during the early weeks of the Second World War was a national disaster. Although she was over 25 years old, the battleship was considered to be robust and strong enough to resist enemy attack. This faith proved to be unwarranted.
The Royal Oak was built at Devonport, Plymouth over 1914-1916. She was nearly 600 ft long with a maximum width of 100 ft. She was armed with eight 15 inch guns contained in 4 turrets, plus an assemblage of 6 inch, 3 inch guns and 4 torpedo tubes. The warship was well armoured with 13 inches of steel that extended 5 ft below her water line. She was capable of a 20 knot speed powered by 40000 HP oil fuelled engines. A crew of nearly 1100 men was needed to handle her. She saw action at the battle of Jutland.
On 13th October 1939 the large battleship was lying at anchor near the port of Scapa on the southward side of Kirkwall. She was acting as anti aircraft cover for the capital city. The night was cold and quiet. Under cover of darkness a German U boat made a daring entry into Scapa Flow through the narrow channel of Kirk Sound between two of the islands surrounding the Flow. Once inside the German commander surveyed the scene. He expected to find a number of British warships at anchor, but only the Royal Oak was left to defend the naval anchorage. So just after midnight, despite the blackout, the U boat located the great warship and prepared to launch a torpedo attack. Shortly before 1 am it launched the first of two salvoes. This scored a minor hit which did not unduly alert the crew of the Royal Oak. Twenty minutes later the second salvo arrived with devastating consequences. 3 direct hits sent the 600 ft battleship to the sea bed in just under 11 minutes. Over 800 men perished - some trapped within the boat, others simply drowning in the bitingly cold waters of the Flow. Thankfully, a small naval tender - the Daisy 2 - managed to save nearly 400 men.
The Navy reacted quickly. On 15th October nets were spread over the wreck to catch any floating bodies. Divers went down to inspect the wreck. Some ascended in horror at the sight of the suspended, drowned bodies that they encountered. Men were found jammed in the portholes as they tried in desperation to get out of the wreck. Oil slicks abounded. The wreck was quickly declared a war grave. It remains so to this day. No diving is allowed on this wreck unless with the express permission of the Royal Navy. Since the wreck is so near to the mainland, this prohibition is rigorously and effectively maintained. Nobody dives the Royal Oak except for an annual remembrance dive conducted by Navy divers.
The battleship lies in 30 metres on her port side at an angle of 45 degrees. Her hull is only 7 - 8 metres below the surface. Even to this day, a slow seepage of oil continues to escape the wreck. It is most poignant to approach the wreck marker buoy and see the oil globules breaking the water and watch the echo sounder. Her shape is clearly visible. Indeed it possible to see the hull as you pass over it.
There is a good description of the wreck, complete with colour photographs in the Morris and Rowlands book.
ReferencesMacDonald, Rod "Dive Scapa Flow" Mainstream
Publishing 1998 Morris, Keith and Peter Rowlands "Exploring
Shipwrecks" Artists House 1993
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Royal Oak marker buoy