Scapa Flow: History of a Legendary Naval Anchorage

A refuge since Viking times

In the remote Orkney Islands, north of Scotland, lies Scapa Flow, a vast natural anchorage that has silently witnessed some of the most dramatic episodes in British naval history. This body of water, surrounded by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay, and Hoy, encompasses approximately 312 square kilometers of relatively calm waters, with depths that rarely exceed 60 meters.

The very name of the place evokes its Nordic heritage: Skalpaflói , which in Old Norse means "bay of the long isthmus." For centuries, Viking ships found refuge in these waters, taking advantage of their strategic location and favorable natural conditions. However, during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, the British Admiralty began to seriously consider its potential, using it as an anchorage for merchant ships awaiting escort to Baltic ports.

The awakening of a naval base (1904-1914)

At the beginning of the 20th century, with the growing rivalry between the United Kingdom and Germany, the strategic location of Scapa Flow acquired crucial importance. Admirals Fisher and Jellicoe recognized that this natural anchorage offered an ideal vantage point from which the Royal Navy could control approaches to the North Sea and the North Atlantic. In 1904, Scapa Flow was designated as the new main base of the Grand Fleet.

However, when the First World War broke out in August 1914, defenses were virtually nonexistent. It was believed that the strong tidal currents of the Pentland Firth and the natural navigational hazards would be sufficient deterrent. Barely forty-eight hours after the declaration of war, the Grand Fleet sailed for Scapa Flow. The Germans, who had planned to sink the British fleet with U-boats as it left its bases, temporarily lost track of the Grand Fleet, so well kept was the secret of its new location.

During those first months, the facilities were virtually nonexistent. The mother ships Cyclops and Assistance arrived to act as an advanced base for the destroyer flotillas, while defenses were hastily constructed: coastal batteries, anti-submarine nets, and old merchant ships sunk as "blockships" to block the access channels.

The Great War and its tragedies (1914-1918)

From this fortified base, the Grand Fleet operated throughout the First World War. In June 1916, the ships sailed from Scapa Flow to engage the German High Seas Fleet at the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval engagement of the war. Although the Germans could claim a tactical victory in terms of losses, the Royal Navy maintained its strategic dominance of the North Sea.

The waters of Scapa Flow were also the scene of devastating tragedies. On June 5, 1916, the cruiser HMS Hampshire , carrying War Secretary Lord Kitchener on a mission to Russia, struck a mine and sank with the loss of 737 lives, including Kitchener himself. Just thirteen months later, on July 9, 1917, the battleship HMS Vanguard mysteriously exploded while at anchor, killing 843 of its 845 crew members in one of the deadliest disasters of the war.

The Germans twice attempted to penetrate the defenses with submarines: the U-18 in November 1914 was rammed and sunk, while the UB-116 in October 1918 was detected by hydrophones and destroyed by land-fired mines, demonstrating the effectiveness of the improved defenses.

The sinking of the German High Seas Fleet (June 21, 1919)

The most extraordinary episode in the history of Scapa Flow occurred after the armistice of November 1918. As part of the terms of the ceasefire, 74 ships of the German Kaiserliche Marine were interned in Scapa Flow while the Treaty of Versailles was being negotiated: 9 battleships, 5 battlecruisers, 8 light cruisers and 52 destroyers.

Under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, the German fleet remained anchored in increasingly precarious conditions. The crews, reduced to a skeleton crew and demoralized after months of inactivity, awaited an uncertain fate. The Allies could not reach an agreement: France and Italy wanted to divide the ships between them, while Great Britain preferred to see them destroyed to maintain its relative naval superiority.

Upon learning the preliminary terms of the Treaty of Versailles in May 1919, von Reuter began meticulously planning the sinking of his fleet. The treaty demanded the surrender of the ships by June 21, and the German admiral, believing this meant their imminent confiscation, decided to act. Unbeknownst to him, the deadline had been extended to June 23.

On the morning of June 21, 1919, fortune smiled on von Reuter: the British First Battle Squadron, under Vice Admiral Sydney Fremantle, sailed for torpedo firing exercises, leaving only a small watch force. At 10:30 a.m., von Reuter raised the signal flag from his flagship, the light cruiser Emden : "Paragraph Eleven Confirm."

It was the coded order to sink the fleet.

One by one, the German commanders opened flood valves, severed seawater pipes, and breached portholes and watertight hatches. In a final act of defiance, many ships raised the German imperial flags, which had been banned since their internment. At noon, the battleship Friedrich der Grosse began to list violently. Over the next five hours, in an act of massive sabotage unprecedented in naval history, 52 of the 74 ships sank in the waters of Scapa Flow.

Realizing what was happening, the British desperately tried to save some ships by towing them to shallower waters. Only 22 were successfully beached in time. In the ensuing chaos, British forces opened fire on the German lifeboats, killing 9 sailors and wounding 16. These would be the last deaths of the First World War.

Von Reuter and nearly 1,800 of his men were captured. While the Allies condemned the act as dishonorable, in Germany it was celebrated as a restoration of naval honor in a time of national humiliation. British Admiral Wemyss, paradoxically, expressed some relief: "It settles, once and for all, the thorny issue of the redistribution of these ships."

The rescue operations (1919-1946)

What seemed like a permanent grave for the German High Seas Fleet became the scene of one of the most ambitious salvage operations ever undertaken. The 400,000 tons of sunken steel represented both a navigational hazard and a commercial opportunity.

Ernest Cox, a British entrepreneur, bought 28 of the sunken ships in a deal most considered impossible. With innovative techniques and extraordinary determination, Cox and his company, Cox and Danks Ltd., managed to refloat the smaller vessels using floating docks and cables. For the larger ships, he developed a revolutionary technique: after sealing all the holes in the hull, they pumped compressed air to expel the water and make the ships float upside down. The culmination of this feat was the refloating of the 28,000-ton SMS Hindenburg in 1930.

By the mid-1940s, most of the large ships had been refloated and scrapped. Only seven remain on the seabed: three battleships ( König , Kronprinz Wilhelm , and Markgraf ) and four light cruisers ( Brummer , Cöln , Dresden , and Karlsruhe ), now protected as historic monuments by Historic Environment Scotland since 2001.

World War II: New Challenges (1939-1945)

Despite its distance from German airfields, Scapa Flow was again selected as the main base for the British Home Fleet during the Second World War. However, the robust defenses of the First World War had fallen into disrepair: the anti-aircraft defenses were obsolete, the blockships had deteriorated, and the anti-submarine nets consisted of mere wire.

On October 14, 1939, just six weeks after the start of the war, the German submarine U-47, commanded by Lieutenant Günther Prien, achieved the unthinkable feat of penetrating the defenses and sinking the battleship HMS Royal Oak . In a night of extraordinary daring, Prien navigated through Kirk Sound, launched his torpedoes, and escaped undetected. The Royal Oak sank in just thirteen minutes with the loss of 833 lives out of a crew of 1,400. The wreck remains as a protected war grave.

Three days later, Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 bombers severely damaged the veteran battleship HMS Iron Duke , flagship in Jutland, which was now serving as a home ship.

These attacks exposed the critical vulnerability of Scapa Flow. Winston Churchill immediately ordered the construction of a series of dikes to block the eastern entrances: the famous "Churchill Barriers," built by Italian prisoners of war between 1940 and 1944. These impressive structures of concrete and stone blocks not only protected the naval base but also provided permanent road connections between the islands that remain to this day.

New defenses were quickly installed: more blockships, minefields, coastal and anti-aircraft batteries, and the RAF Grimsetter airbase (later HMS Robin ). From this reinforced base, Scapa Flow served as the departure point for Arctic convoys, one of the most dangerous naval operations of the war.

The decline and the legacy (1945-present)

Following the end of World War II, the Scapa Flow naval base maintained a reduced presence. On 29 March 1957, the Royal Navy's White Ensign was lowered for the last time, marking the official closure of the base under the British armed forces' rationalization policy. However, the fuel facilities remained in use as a depot for the Navy and NATO forces until 1976.

Today, Scapa Flow has found a new lease of life as a hub of the North Sea oil industry, with the Flotta oil terminal processing oil from the Piper, Claymore, and Tartan fields via a 128-mile subsea pipeline. Aquaculture, fishing, and tourism also thrive in these historic waters.

For divers, Scapa Flow represents one of the world's most prestigious wreck diving destinations. The seven German warships that remain submerged—now teeming with marine life, anemones, starfish, and sea urchins—attract thousands of visitors each year. Few places in the world offer the opportunity to explore three dreadnought battleships and four World War I cruisers at depths accessible to recreational divers.

The Scapa Flow Museum in Lyness, on the Isle of Hoy, preserves this rich naval heritage, while the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre offers a glimpse into the dramatic events that unfolded in these waters. The physical remains—from Churchill's Barriers to sunken shipwrecks—serve as tangible reminders of an era when this remote Scottish anchorage was at the epicenter of global conflicts.

Final reflection

Scapa Flow remains an extraordinary testament to 20th-century naval history. From its humble use by Viking traders to becoming the British Empire's main naval stronghold, from the spectacular sinking of the German High Seas Fleet to its crucial role in two world wars, these waters have been the stage for drama, tragedy, innovation, and courage.

Beneath their tranquil surfaces lie not only the remains of warships, but also the stories of thousands of sailors—British, German, Australian—who served, fought, and, in many cases, met their final resting place on these remote northern islands. It is a place where history feels palpable, where every wave that crashes against the Orkney shores seems to whisper the echoes of an era that shaped the course of the 20th century and the destiny of nations.