HMS ''Royal Oak'' was one of five s built for the
Royal Navy during the First World War
The Royal Navy had three main tasks at the beginning of the war: to bring the British Expeditionary Force to France and ensure its supplies and reinforcements; to establish and maintain a blockade against Germany; and to ensure the security of ...
. Completed in 1916, the ship first saw combat at the
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland () was a naval battle between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, durin ...
as part of the
Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
History
Formed in August 1914 from th ...
. In peacetime, she served in the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
,
Home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...
and
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
fleets, more than once coming under accidental attack. ''Royal Oak'' drew worldwide attention in 1928 when her senior officers were controversially
court-martial
A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...
led, an event that brought considerable embarrassment to what was then the world's largest navy. Attempts to modernise ''Royal Oak'' throughout her 25-year career could not fix her fundamental lack of speed and, by the start of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, she was no longer suitable for front-line duty.
On 14 October 1939, ''Royal Oak'' was anchored at
Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...
in
Orkney
Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...
, Scotland, when she was torpedoed by the German
submarine
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
. Of ''Royal Oak''s complement of 1,234 men and boys, 835 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. The loss of the outdated ship—the first of five Royal Navy battleships and
battlecruiser
The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...
s sunk in the Second World War—did little to affect the numerical superiority enjoyed by the British navy and its
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
, but it had a considerable effect on wartime morale. The raid made an immediate celebrity and
war hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such things for the sake o ...
of the U-boat commander,
Günther Prien
Günther Prien (16 January 1908 – presumed 8 March 1941) was a German U-boat commander during World War II. He was the first U-boat commander to receive the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and the first member of the ''Kriegsmarine'' to r ...
, who became the first German submarine officer to be awarded the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. While it was order of precedence, lower in preceden ...
. Before the sinking of ''Royal Oak'', the Royal Navy had considered the naval base at Scapa Flow impregnable to submarine attack, but ''U-47''s raid demonstrated that the German navy was capable of bringing the war to British home waters. The shock resulted in rapid changes to dockland security and the construction of the
Churchill Barriers
The Churchill Barriers are four causeways in the Orkney islands with a total length of . They link the Orkney Mainland in the north to the island of South Ronaldsay via Burray and the two smaller islands of Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm.
The b ...
around Scapa Flow, with the added advantage of being topped by roads running between the islands.
The wreck of ''Royal Oak'', a designated
war grave
A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations.
Definition
The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...
, lies almost upside down in of water with her hull beneath the surface. In an annual ceremony marking the loss of the ship, Royal Navy divers place a
White Ensign
The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign because of the simultaneous existence of a crossless version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cr ...
underwater at her stern. Unauthorised divers are prohibited from approaching the wreck under the
Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
Design and description
The ''Revenge''-class ships were designed as slightly smaller, slower, and more heavily protected versions of the preceding s. As an economy measure they were intended to revert to the previous practice of using both
fuel oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...
and coal, but
First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord, officially known as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS), is the title of a statutory position in the British Armed Forces, held by an Admiral (Royal Navy), admiral or a General (United Kingdom), general of the ...
Jackie Fisher rescinded the decision for coal in October 1914. While under construction the ships were redesigned to employ oil-fired
boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...
s that increased the power of the engines by over the original specification.
''Royal Oak'' had a
length overall
Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also ...
of , a
beam of and a deep
draught of . She had a designed displacement of and displaced at
deep load
The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...
. She was powered by two sets of
Parsons steam turbine
A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...
s, each driving two shafts, using steam from 18
Yarrow boiler
Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by
Yarrow Shipbuilders, Yarrow & Co. (London), Shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships.
The Yarrow boiler desi ...
s. The turbines were rated at 40,000 shaft horsepower (30,000 kW) and intended to reach a maximum speed of . During her
sea trial
A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...
s on 22 May 1916, the ship reached a top speed of only from . She had a range of at a cruising speed of .
Her crew numbered 909 officers and ratings in 1916.
The ''Revenge'' class was equipped with eight
breech-loading
A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel (i.e., from the rearward, open end of the gun's barrel), as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the ( muzzle ...
(BL)
Mk I guns in four twin
gun turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...
s, in two
superfiring pairs fore and aft of the
superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. Twelve of the fourteen
BL Mk XII guns were mounted in
casemate
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...
s along the
broadside of the vessel
amidships; the remaining pair were mounted on the shelter deck and were protected by
gun shield
A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield
A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery pie ...
s. Their
anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...
(AA) armament consisted of two
quick-firing (QF) 20 cwt Mk I["Cwt" is the abbreviation for ]hundredweight
The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and United States customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the United States customary and British imperial sy ...
, 20 cwt referring to the weight of the gun. guns. The ships were fitted with four submerged
21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s, two on each broadside.
''Royal Oak'' was completed with two
fire-control directors fitted with
rangefinder
A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to Length measurement, measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, suc ...
s. One was mounted above the
conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...
, protected by an armoured hood, and the other was in the
spotting top above the tripod
foremast
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light ...
. Each turret was also fitted with a 15-foot rangefinder. The main armament could also be controlled by 'X' turret. The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of the compass platform on the foremast once they were fitted in March 1917.
A torpedo-control director with a 15-foot rangefinder was mounted at the aft end of the superstructure.
The ship's
waterline belt consisted of
Krupp cemented armour
Krupp armour was a type of steel naval armour used in the construction of capital ships starting shortly before the end of the nineteenth century. It was developed by Germany's Krupp Arms Works in 1893 and quickly replaced Harvey armour as the ...
(KC) that was thick between 'A' and 'Y'
barbette
Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships.
In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...
s and thinned to towards the ship's ends, but did not reach either the bow or the stern. Above this was a
strake
On a vessel's Hull (watercraft), hull, a strake is a longitudinal course of Plank (wood), planking or Plate (metal), plating which runs from the boat's stem (ship), stempost (at the Bow (ship), bows) to the stern, sternpost or transom (nautica ...
of armour 6 inches thick that extended between 'A' and 'X' barbettes. Transverse
bulkheads 4 to 6 inches thick ran at an angle from the ends of the thickest part of the waterline belt to 'A' and 'Y' barbettes. The gun turrets were protected by of KC armour, except for the turret roofs which were thick. The barbettes ranged in thickness from above the upper deck, but were only 4 to 6 inches thick below it. The ''Revenge''-class ships had multiple armoured decks that ranged from in thickness.
The main conning tower had 13 inches of armour on the sides with a 3-inch roof. The torpedo director in the rear superstructure had 6 inches of armour protecting it.
After the Battle of Jutland, 1 inch of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck over the
magazines
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
and additional anti-flash equipment was installed in the magazines.
The ship was fitted with
flying-off platforms, mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets, in 1918; from which fighters and
reconnaissance aircraft
A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using Aerial photography, photography), signals ...
could launch. In 1934 the platforms were removed from the turrets and a
catapult
A catapult is a ballistics, ballistic device used to launch a projectile at a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden rel ...
was installed on the roof of 'X' turret, along with a
crane to recover a
seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
.
Major alterations

''Royal Oak'' was extensively refitted between 1922 and 1924, when her anti-aircraft defences were upgraded by replacing the original three-inch AA guns with a pair of
QF Mk V AA guns.
[ A rangefinder] was fitted in 'B' turret and a simple high-angle rangefinder was added above the bridge.[ Underwater protection improved by the addition of ]anti-torpedo bulge
The anti-torpedo bulge (also known as an anti-torpedo blister) is a form of defence against naval torpedoes occasionally employed in warship construction in the period between the First and Second World Wars. It involved fitting (or retrofittin ...
s. They were designed to reduce the effect of torpedo detonations and improve stability at the cost of widening the ship's beam by over . They increased her beam to , reduced her draught to ,[ increased her metacentric height to at deep load,] and all the changes to her equipment increased her crew to a total of 1,188. Despite the bulges she was able to reach a speed of .[ A brief refit in early 1927 saw the addition of two more four-inch AA guns and the removal of the six-inch guns from the shelter deck. About 1931, a High-Angle Control System (HACS) Mk I director replaced the high-angle rangefinder on the spotting top. Two years later, the aft pair of torpedo tubes were removed.]
The ship received a final refit between 1934 and 1936, when her deck armour was increased to over the magazines and to over the engine rooms. In addition to a general modernisation of the ship's systems, her anti-aircraft defences were strengthened by replacing the single mounts of the AA guns with twin mounts for the QF 4-inch Mark XVI gun and adding a pair of octuple mounts for two-pounder Mk VIII "pom-pom" guns to sponson
Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, Instantaneous stability, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing.
Watercra ...
s abreast the funnel. Two positions for "pom-pom" anti-aircraft directors were added on new platforms abreast and below the fire-control director in the spotting top. A HACS Mk III director replaced the Mk I in the spotting top and another replaced the torpedo director aft. A pair of quadruple mounts for Vickers .50 machine gun
The Vickers .5 inch machine gun (officially "Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-in") also known as the Vickers .50 was a large-calibre British automatic weapon. The gun was commonly used as a close-in anti-aircraft weapon on Royal Navy and Allied ships, ...
s were added abreast the conning tower. The mainmast
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light ...
was reconstructed as a tripod to support the weight of a radio-direction finding office and a second High-Angle Control Station. The forward pair of submerged torpedo tubes were removed and four experimental 21-inch torpedo tubes were added above water forward of 'A' turret.
Construction and service
''Royal Oak'' was laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one ...
at Devonport Royal Dockyard on 15 January 1914. She was launched on 17 November, and after fitting-out was commissioned on 1 May 1916 at a final cost of £2,468,269. Named after the Royal Oak
The Royal Oak was the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House ...
in which Charles II hid following his defeat at the 1651 Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...
, she was the eighth vessel to bear the name ''Royal Oak'', replacing a pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built from the mid- to late- 1880s to the early 1900s. Their designs were conceived before the appearance of in 1906 and their classification as "pre-dreadnought" is retrospectively appl ...
scrapped in 1914. Upon completion ''Royal Oak'' was assigned to the Third Division of the Fourth Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
History
Formed in August 1914 from th ...
, under the command of Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
Crawford Maclachlan.
First World War
Battle of Jutland
In an attempt to lure out and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, the German High Seas Fleet, composed of 16 dreadnoughts, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, 6 light cruisers, and 31 torpedo boats, departed the Jade early on the morning of 31 May. The fleet sailed in concert with Rear-Admiral Franz von Hipper
Franz Ritter von Hipper (born Franz Hipper; 13 September 1863 – 25 May 1932) was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy, (''Kaiserliche Marine'') who played an important role in the naval warfare of World War I. Franz von Hipper joined th ...
's five battlecruisers and supporting cruisers and torpedo boats. The Royal Navy's Room 40
Room 40, also known as 40 O.B. (old building; officially part of NID25), was the cryptanalysis section of the British Admiralty during the First World War.
The group, which was formed in October 1914, began when Rear-Admiral Henry Oliver, the ...
had intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic containing plans of the operation. The Admiralty ordered Admiral John Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleettotalling 28 dreadnoughts and 9 battlecruisersto sortie the night before to cut off and destroy the High Seas Fleet. The initial action was fought primarily by the British and German battlecruiser formations in the afternoon, but by 18:00 the Grand Fleet approached the scene. Fifteen minutes later, Jellicoe gave the order to turn and deploy the fleet for action.
The German cruiser had become disabled by British shellfire, and both sides concentrated in the area, the Germans trying to protect their cruiser and the British attempting to sink her. At 18:29, ''Royal Oak'' opened fire on the German cruiser, firing four salvo
A salvo is the simultaneous discharge of artillery or firearms including the firing of guns either to hit a target or to perform a salute. As a tactic in warfare, the intent is to cripple an enemy in many blows at once and prevent them from f ...
es from her main guns in quick succession, along with her secondary battery. She scored a hit on ''Wiesbaden'' aft with her third salvo. In return, ''Royal Oak'' was straddled by a German salvo at 18:33 but was undamaged. German torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
s attempted to reach ''Wiesbaden'' shortly after 19:00, and at 19:07, ''Royal Oak''s secondary guns opened fire on them, believing they were instead trying to launch a torpedo attack. By 19:15, ''Royal Oak''s gunners had observed the German battlecruiser squadron and opened fire at the leading vessel, . The gunners overestimated the range initially, but by 19:20 had found the correct distance and scored a pair of hits aft, which did not inflict serious damage. ''Derfflinger'' then disappeared in the haze, so ''Royal Oak'' shifted fire to the next battlecruiser, . She scored a hit at 19:27 before ''Seydlitz'' too was lost in the mist.
While ''Royal Oak'' was attacking the battlecruisers, a German torpedo boat flotilla launched an attack on the British battleline. ''Royal Oak''s secondary guns were the first to open fire, at 19:16, followed quickly by the rest of the British ships. Following the German destroyer attack, the High Seas Fleet disengaged, and ''Royal Oak'' and the rest of the Grand Fleet saw no further action in the battle. This was, in part, due to confusion aboard the fleet flagship over the exact location and course of the German fleet; without this information, Jellicoe could not bring his fleet to action. At 21:30, the Grand Fleet began to reorganise into its night-time cruising formation. Early on the morning of 1 June, the Grand Fleet combed the area, looking for damaged German ships, but after spending several hours searching, they found none. In the course of the battle, ''Royal Oak'' had fired 38 rounds from her main battery and 84 rounds from her secondary guns.
Later actions
Following the battle, ''Royal Oak'' was reassigned to the First Battle Squadron. On 18 August, the Germans again sortied, this time to bombard Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
; Vice-Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral.
Australia
In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...
Reinhard Scheer
Carl Friedrich Heinrich Reinhard Scheer (30 September 1863 – 26 November 1928) was an Admiral in the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine''). Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet and progressed through the ranks, commandi ...
, the German fleet commander, hoped to draw out the British battlecruisers and destroy them. British signals intelligence decrypted German wireless transmissions, allowing Jellicoe enough time to deploy the Grand Fleet in an attempt to engage in a decisive battle. Both sides withdrew after their opponents' submarine
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
s inflicted losses in the action of 19 August 1916
The action of 19 August 1916 was one of two attempts in 1916 by the German High Seas Fleet to engage elements of the British Grand Fleet, following the mixed results of the Battle of Jutland, during the First World War. The lesson of Jutland for ...
: the British cruisers and were both torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat
U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
s, and the German battleship was damaged by the British submarine . After returning to port, Jellicoe issued an order that prohibited risking the fleet in the southern half of the North Sea due to the overwhelming risk from mines and U-boats. In late 1917, the Germans began using destroyers and light cruisers to raid the British convoys to Norway; this forced the British to deploy capital ships to protect the convoys. In April 1918, the German fleet sortied in an attempt to catch one of the isolated British squadrons, though the convoy had already passed safely. The Grand Fleet sortied too late to catch the retreating Germans, although the battlecruiser was torpedoed and badly damaged by the submarine .
On 5 November 1918, in the final week of the First World War, ''Royal Oak'' was anchored off Burntisland
Burntisland ( , ) is a former Royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. It was previously known as Wester Kinghorn or Little Kinghorn. The town has a population of 6,269 (2011).
Burntisland is known ...
in the Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth () is a firth in Scotland, an inlet of the North Sea that separates Fife to its north and Lothian to its south. Further inland, it becomes the estuary of the River Forth and several other rivers.
Name
''Firth'' is a cognate ...
accompanied by the seaplane tender
A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...
and the light battlecruiser
The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...
. A sudden Force 10 squall
A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed lasting minutes, as opposed to a wind gust, which lasts for only seconds. They are usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow. Squalls refer to the ...
caused ''Campania'' to drag her anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek ().
Anch ...
, collide with ''Royal Oak'' and then with ''Glorious''. Both capital ship
The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet.
Strategic i ...
s suffered only minor damage, but ''Campania'' was holed by her initial collision with ''Royal Oak''. The ship's engine rooms flooded, and she settled by the stern and sank five hours later, without loss of life.
Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, the Allies interned most of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow. The fleet rendezvoused with the British light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
, which led the ships to the Allied fleet that was to escort the Germans to Scapa Flow. The fleet consisted of 370 British, American, and French warships. The High Seas Fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
. Konteradmiral
(; abbreviated KAdm) is a senior naval flag officer rank in several German-speaking countries, equivalent to counter or rear admiral.
Austria-Hungary
In the Austro-Hungarian '' K.u.K. Kriegsmarine'' (1849 to 1918) there were the flag of ...
Ludwig von Reuter
Hans Hermann Ludwig von Reuter (9 February 1869 – 18 December 1943) was a German admiral who commanded the High Seas Fleet when it was interned at Scapa Flow in the north of Scotland at the end of World War I. On 21 June 1919 he ordered t ...
believed the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June 1919, which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty. That morning, the Grand Fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training manoeuvres, and while they were away von Reuter issued the order to scuttle the High Seas Fleet.
1920s
The peacetime reorganisation of the Royal Navy assigned ''Royal Oak'' to the Second Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. Modernised by a 1922–24 refit, she was transferred in 1926 to the Mediterranean Fleet
The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...
, based in Grand Harbour
The Grand Harbour (; ), also known as the Port of Marsa, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been substantially modified over the years with extensive docks ( Malta Dockyard), wharves, and fortifications.
Description
The h ...
, Malta. In early 1928, this duty saw a notorious incident which the contemporary press dubbed the "Royal Oak Mutiny". What began as a simple dispute between Rear-Admiral Bernard Collard and ''Royal Oak'''s two senior officers, Captain Kenneth Dewar and Commander ,[Daniel was nephew to Henry Daniel and as his heir inherited the Daniel Press; he was also the author of that publisher's ''His Majesty's Valiants: Being a Short Account of Valiant Deeds Accomplished by the King's and Queen's Ships of that Name Between the Years 1759 and 1922'' (1923).] over the band at the ship's wardroom
The wardroom is the mess, mess cabin or compartment on a warship or other military ship for commissioned naval Officer (armed forces), officers above the rank of midshipman. Although the term typically applies to officers in a navy, it is also ...
dance, descended into a bitter personal feud that spanned several months. Dewar and Daniel accused Collard of "vindictive fault-finding" and openly humiliating and insulting them before their crew; in return, Collard countercharged the two with failing to follow orders and treating him "worse than a midshipman".
When Dewar and Daniel wrote letters of complaint to Collard's superior, Vice-Admiral John Kelly, he immediately passed them on to the Commander-in-Chief Admiral Sir Roger Keyes. On realising that the relationship between the two and their flag admiral had irretrievably broken down, Keyes hurriedly convened a Board of Enquiry, the outcome of which was to remove all three men from their posts and send them back to England. The Board sat on the eve of a major naval exercise, which Keyes was obliged to postpone, causing rumours to fly around the fleet that the ''Royal Oak'' had experienced a mutiny
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...
. The story was picked up by the press worldwide, which described with some hyperbole what became known as "the ''Royal Oak'' affair". Public attention reached such proportions as to raise the concerns of the King, who summoned First Lord of the Admiralty
First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...
William Bridgeman for an explanation.
For their letters of complaint, Dewar and Daniel were controversially charged with writing "subversive documents". In a pair of highly publicised courts-martial
A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...
held aboard HMS ''Eagle'' at Gibraltar, both were found guilty and severely reprimanded, leading Daniel to resign from the Navy. Collard himself was criticised for the excesses of his conduct by the press and in Parliament, and on being denounced by Bridgeman as "unfitted to hold further high command", was forcibly retired from service. He retreated to private life and never spoke publicly of the incident again. On the retired list, he was promoted from Rear- to Vice-Admiral on 1 April 1931. Daniel attempted a career in journalism – notably a prominent anti-noise campaign, conducted through the ''Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...
'', for whom he worked as correspondent – but this was unsuccessful and, after a number of other jobs, his health deteriorated and he died in South Africa in 1955. Of the three, only Dewar escaped with his career, albeit a damaged one: he remained in the Royal Navy, but in a series of more minor commands. His promotion to rear-admiral took place in the year following the court martial, after which he was forcibly retired.
The scandal proved an embarrassment to the reputation of the Royal Navy, then the world's largest, and it was satirised at home and abroad through editorials, cartoons, and even a comic jazz oratorio composed by Erwin Schulhoff
Erwin Schulhoff (; 8 June 189418 August 1942) was an Austro-Czech composer and pianist. He was one of the figures in the generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germ ...
. One consequence of the damaging affair was an undertaking from the Admiralty to review the means by which naval officers might bring complaints against the conduct of their superiors.[
]
1930s
During the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, ''Royal Oak'' was tasked with conducting non-intervention patrols around the Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
. On such a patrol and steaming east of Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
on 2 February 1937, she came under aerial attack by three aircraft of the Republican forces. They dropped three bombs (two of which exploded) within 3 cables
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a he ...
(550 m) of the starboard bow, causing no damage. The British chargé d'affaires
A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...
protested about the incident to the Republican Government, which admitted its error and apologised for the attack. Later that same month, while stationed off Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
on 23 February 1937 during an aerial bombardment by the Nationalists
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, Id ...
, she was accidentally struck by an anti-aircraft shell fired from a Republican position. Five men were injured, including ''Royal Oak''s captain, T. B. Drew. On this occasion the British did not protest to the Republicans, deeming the incident "an act of God
In legal usage in the English-speaking world, an act of God, act of nature, or damnum fatale ("loss arising from inevitable accident") is an event caused by no direct human action (e.g. Severe weather, severe or extreme weather and other natur ...
".
In May 1937, she and escorted SS ''Habana'', an ocean liner
An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ...
carrying thousands of Basque child refugees, to the Southampton Docks
The Port of Southampton is a passenger and cargo port in the central part of the south coast of England. The modern era in the history of the Port of Southampton began when the first dock was inaugurated in 1843. After the Port of Felixstowe, ...
. In July, as the war in northern Spain flared up, ''Royal Oak'', along with her sister rescued the steamer ''Gordonia'' when Spanish Nationalist warships attempted to capture her off Santander. She was unable on 14 July to prevent the seizure of the British freighter ''Molton'' by the Nationalist cruiser while trying to enter Santander. The merchantmen had been engaged in the evacuation of refugees.
This same period saw ''Royal Oak'' star alongside fourteen other Royal Navy vessels in the 1937 British film melodrama
A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...
'' Our Fighting Navy'', the plot of which centres around a coup in the fictional South American republic of Bianco. The Royal Navy saw the film as a recruitment opportunity and provided warships and extras. ''Royal Oak'' portrays a rebel battleship ''El Mirante'', whose commander forces a British captain (played by Robert Douglas) into choosing between his lover and his duty. The film was poorly received by critics, but gained some redemption through its dramatic scenes of naval action.
In 1938, ''Royal Oak'' returned to the Home Fleet
The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.
Before the First ...
and was made flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
of the Second Battle Squadron based in Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
. On 24 November 1938, she returned the body of the British-born Queen Maud of Norway, who had died in London, to Oslo for a state funeral, accompanied by her husband King Haakon VII
Haakon VII (; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was King of Norway from 18 November 1905 until his death in 1957.
The future Haakon VII was born in Copenhagen as Prince Carl of Denmark. He was the second son of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess ...
. Paying off in December 1938, ''Royal Oak'' was recommissioned the following June, and in 1939 embarked on a short training cruise in the English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
in preparation for another 30-month tour of the Mediterranean, for which her crew were issued tropical uniforms. As hostilities loomed, the battleship was instead dispatched north to Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...
, and was at anchor there when war was declared on 3 September.
Second World War
The next few weeks of the Phoney War
The Phoney War (; ; ) was an eight-month period at the outset of World War II during which there were virtually no Allied military land operations on the Western Front from roughly September 1939 to May 1940. World War II began on 3 Septembe ...
proved uneventful, but in October 1939 ''Royal Oak'' joined the search for the , which had been ordered into the North Sea as a diversion for the commerce-raiding heavy cruisers and . The search was ultimately fruitless, particularly for ''Royal Oak'', whose top speed, by then less than , was inadequate to keep up with the rest of the fleet. On 12 October, ''Royal Oak'' returned to the defences of Scapa Flow in poor shape, battered by North Atlantic storms. Many of her Carley Float
The Carley float (sometimes Carley raft) was a form of invertible liferaft designed by American inventor Horace Carley (1838–1918). Supplied mainly to warships, it saw widespread use in a number of navies during peacetime and both World Wars u ...
s had been smashed and several of the smaller-calibre guns rendered inoperable through flooding. The mission had underlined the obsolescence of the 25-year-old warship. Concerned that a recent overflight by German reconnaissance aircraft heralded an imminent air attack upon Scapa Flow, Admiral of the Home Fleet Charles Forbes ordered most of the fleet to disperse to safer ports. ''Royal Oak'' remained behind, her anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...
guns still deemed a useful addition to Scapa's otherwise scanty air defences.
Sinking
Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow made a near-ideal anchorage. Situated at the centre of the Orkney
Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...
Islands off the north coast of Scotland, the natural harbour, large enough to contain the entire Grand Fleet, was surrounded by a ring of islands separated by shallow channels subject to fast-racing tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tables ...
s. That U-boats still posed a threat had long been realised, and a series of countermeasures were installed during the early years of the First World War. Blockship
A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used as a waterway. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland ...
s were sunk at critical points; and floating booms deployed to block the three widest channels, operated by tugboats to allow the passage of friendly shipping. It was considered possible, but highly unlikely, that a U-boat commander might attempt to race through undetected before the boom was closed. Two submarines unsuccessfully attempted infiltration during the First World War: on 23 November 1914 was rammed twice before running aground with the capture of her crew, and was detected by hydrophone
A hydrophone () is a microphone designed for underwater use, for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones contains a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potential when subjected to a pressure change, such as a ...
and destroyed with the loss of all hands on 28 October 1918.
Scapa Flow provided the main anchorage for the British Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
History
Formed in August 1914 from the F ...
throughout most of the First World War, but in the interwar period this passed to Rosyth
Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth.
Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...
, further south in the Firth of Forth. Scapa Flow was reactivated with the advent of the Second World War, becoming a base for the British Home Fleet
The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.
Before the First ...
. Its natural and artificial defences, while still strong, were recognised as in need of improvement, and in the early weeks of the war were in the process of being strengthened by the provision of additional blockships.
''Special Operation P'': the raid by ''U-47''
''Kriegsmarine'' Commander of Submarines () Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz (; 16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980) was a German grand admiral and convicted war criminal who, following Adolf Hitler's Death of Adolf Hitler, suicide, succeeded him as head of state of Nazi Germany during the Second World ...
devised a plan to attack Scapa Flow by submarine within days of the outbreak of war. Its goal would be twofold: first, displacing the Home Fleet from Scapa Flow would slacken the British North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
blockade and grant Germany greater freedom to attack the Atlantic convoys; second, the blow would be a symbolic act of vengeance, striking at the same location where the German High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet () was the battle fleet of the German Empire, German Imperial German Navy, Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. In February 1907, the Home Fleet () was renamed the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpi ...
had scuttled itself following Germany's defeat in the First World War. Dönitz hand-picked ''Kapitänleutnant
, short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( or ''lieutenant captain'') is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the modern German . The rank is rated Ranks and insignia of NATO navies' officers, OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to i ...
'' Günther Prien
Günther Prien (16 January 1908 – presumed 8 March 1941) was a German U-boat commander during World War II. He was the first U-boat commander to receive the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and the first member of the ''Kriegsmarine'' to r ...
for the task, scheduling the raid for the night of 13/14 October 1939, when the tides would be high and the night moonless.
Dönitz was aided by high-quality photographs from a reconnaissance overflight by Siegfried Knemeyer
Siegfried Knemeyer (5 April 1909 – 11 April 1979) was a German aeronautical engineer, aviator and the Head of Technical Development at the Reich Ministry of Aviation of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Early career
Knemeyer attended ...
(who received his first Iron Cross for the mission), which revealed the weaknesses of the defences and an abundance of targets. He directed Prien to enter Scapa Flow from the east via Kirk Sound, passing to the north of Lamb Holm
Lamb Holm is a small uninhabited island in Orkney, Scotland. The Italian Chapel, constructed during the Second World War, is the island's main attraction.
Lamb Holm is classified by the National Records of Scotland as an uninhabited island that ...
, a small, low-lying island between Burray
Burray () is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland. It lies to the east of Scapa Flow and is one of a chain of islands linked by the Churchill Barriers.
Geography and geology
Burray lies between Mainland, Orkney and South Ronaldsay, and is ...
and Mainland
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or demogr ...
. Prien initially mistook the more southerly Skerry Sound for the chosen route, and his sudden realisation that ''U-47'' was heading for the shallow blocked passage forced him to order a rapid turn to the northeast. On the surface, and illuminated by a bright display of the aurora borealis
An aurora ( aurorae or auroras),
also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
, the submarine threaded between the sunken blockships
A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel (geography), channel, or canal from being used as a waterway. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the ...
''Seriano'' and ''Numidian'', grounding itself temporarily on a cable strung from ''Seriano''. It was briefly caught in the headlights of a taxi onshore, but the driver raised no alarm. On entering the harbour proper at 00:27 on 14 October, Prien entered a triumphant in the log and set a south-westerly course for several kilometres before reversing direction. To his surprise, the anchorage appeared to be almost empty; unknown to him, Forbes's order to disperse the fleet had removed some of the biggest targets. ''U-47'' had been heading directly towards four warships, including the newly commissioned light cruiser , anchored off Flotta
Flotta () is a small island in Orkney, Scotland, lying in Scapa Flow. The island is known for its large oil terminal and is linked by Orkney Ferries to Houton on the Orkney Mainland, Lyness on Hoy and Longhope on South Walls. The island ha ...
and Hoy
Hoy may refer to:
People
Given name
* Hoy Menear (died 2023), American politician
* Hoy Phallin (born 1995), Cambodian footballer
* Hoy Wong (1920–2009), American bartender
Surname
* Hoy (surname), a Scottish and Irish surname
* H� ...
distant, but Prien gave no indication he had seen them.
On the reverse course, a lookout on the bridge spotted ''Royal Oak'' lying approximately to the north, correctly identifying her as a battleship of the . Mostly hidden behind her was a second ship, only the bow of which was visible to ''U-47''. Prien mistook her to be a battlecruiser of the , German intelligence later labelling her . She was in fact the First World War seaplane tender ''Pegasus''.
At 00:58 ''U-47'' fired a salvo of three torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
es from its bow tubes, a fourth lodging in its tube. Two failed to find a target, but a single torpedo struck the bow of ''Royal Oak'' at 01:04, shaking the ship and waking the crew. There was little visible damage, but the starboard anchor chain had been severed, clattering noisily down through its slips. Initially, it was suspected that there had been an explosion in the ship's forward inflammable store, used to store materials such as kerosene. Mindful of the unexplained explosion that had destroyed at Scapa Flow in 1917,[ an announcement was made over ''Royal Oak''s ]tannoy
Tannoy is a British manufacturer of loudspeakers and public address systems founded in 1926. Today the company is part of the Music Tribe group of brands.
History
The company was founded by the Yorkshire-born engineer Guy Fountain (1898-1977) ...
system to check the magazine temperatures, but many sailors returned to their hammocks, unaware the ship was under attack.
Prien turned his submarine and attempted another shot via his stern tube, but this too missed. Reloading his bow tubes, he doubled back and fired a salvo of three torpedoes, all at ''Royal Oak''. This time he was successful. At 01:16, all three struck the battleship in quick succession amidships and detonated. The explosions blew a hole in the armoured deck, destroying the Stokers', Boys' and Marines
Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...
' mess
The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...
es and causing a loss of electrical power. Cordite from a magazine ignited and the ensuing fireball passed rapidly through the ship's internal spaces. ''Royal Oak'' quickly listed to 15°, sufficient to push the open starboard-side portholes below the waterline. She soon rolled further onto her side to 45°, hanging there for several minutes before disappearing beneath the surface at 01:29, 13 minutes after Prien's second strike. 835 men and boys died with the ship or died later of their wounds. The dead included Rear-Admiral Henry Blagrove, commander of the Second Battle Squadron. 134 of the dead were boy seamen, not yet 18 years old, the largest ever such loss in a single Royal Navy action.
Rescue efforts
The tender ''Daisy 2'', skippered by John Gatt, had been tied up for the night to ''Royal Oak''s port side. As the sinking battleship began to list to starboard, Gatt ordered ''Daisy 2'' to be cut loose, his vessel becoming briefly caught on ''Royal Oak''s rising anti-torpedo bulge and lifted from the sea before freeing herself.
Many of ''Royal Oak''s crew who had managed to jump from the sinking ship were dressed in little more than their nightclothes and were unprepared for the chilling water. A thick layer of fuel oil coated the surface, filling men's lungs and stomachs and hampering their efforts to swim. Of those who attempted the half-mile (800 m) swim to the nearest shore, only a handful survived.
''Royal Oak''s port side pinnace was manoeuvred away from the sinking ship and paddled away using wooden boards as there had been insufficient time to raise steam. The boat became overladen and capsized 300 metres from ''Royal Oak'', throwing those on deck into the water and trapping those below.
Gatt switched the lights of ''Daisy 2'' on and he and his crew managed to pull 386 men from the water, including ''Royal Oak''s commander, Captain William Benn. The rescue efforts continued for another two and a half hours until nearly 4:00 am, when Gatt abandoned the search for more survivors and took those he had to ''Pegasus''. Aided by boats from ''Pegasus'' and the harbour, he was responsible for rescuing almost all the survivors, an act for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the only military award made by the British in connection with the disaster. ''Pegasus'' had sent a message by signal lamp
Signal lamp training during World War II
A signal lamp (sometimes called an Aldis lamp or a Morse lamp) is a visual signaling device for optical communication by flashes of a lamp, typically using Morse code. The idea of flashing dots and dashes ...
to the port signal station about five minutes after the sinking, saying "General. Send all boats", and half an hour later "''Royal Oak'' is sinking after several internal explosions".
Aftermath
The British were initially confused as to the cause of the sinking, suspecting either an on-board explosion or aerial attack. Once it was realised that a submarine attack was the most likely explanation, steps were rapidly made to seal the anchorage, but ''U-47'' had already escaped and was on its way back to Germany. The BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
released news of the sinking by late morning on 14 October, and its broadcasts were received by the German listening services and by ''U-47'' itself. Divers sent down on the morning after the explosion discovered remnants of a German torpedo, confirming the means of attack. On 17 October, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
officially announced the loss of ''Royal Oak'' to the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
, first conceding that the raid had been "a remarkable exploit of professional skill and daring", but then declaring that the loss would not materially affect the naval balance of power. An Admiralty board of inquiry convened between 18 and 24 October to establish the circumstances under which the anchorage had been penetrated. In the meantime, the Home Fleet was ordered to remain at safer ports until security issues at Scapa could be addressed. Churchill was obliged to respond to questions in the House as to why ''Royal Oak'' had had aboard so many boys, most of whom died. He defended the Royal Navy tradition of sending boys aged 15 to 17 to sea, but the practice was generally discontinued shortly after the disaster, and under 18-year-olds served on active warships in only the most exceptional circumstances.
The Nazi Propaganda Ministry was quick to capitalise on the successful raid, and radio broadcasts by the popular journalist Hans Fritzsche displayed the triumph felt throughout Germany. Prien and his crew reached Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...
at 11:44 on 17 October and were immediately greeted as heroes, learning that Prien had been awarded the Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...
First Class, and each man of the crew the Iron Cross Second Class. Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
sent his personal plane to bring the crew to Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, where he further invested Prien with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. While it was order of precedence, lower in preceden ...
. This decoration, made for the first time to a German submarine officer, later became the customary decoration for successful U-boat commanders. Dönitz was rewarded by promotion from Commodore to Rear-Admiral and was made Flag Officer
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which that officer exercises command.
Different countries use the term "flag officer" in different ways:
* ...
of U-boats.
Prien was nicknamed "The Bull of Scapa Flow" and his crew decorated ''U-47''s conning tower with a snorting bull mascot, later adopted as the emblem of the 7th U-boat Flotilla
The 7th U-boat Flotilla (German 7. Unterseebootsflottille), also referred to as the Wegener Flotilla, was a combat unit within the ''Kriegsmarine'', the naval warfare branch of Nazi Germany. It was the seventh operational flotilla focused on U-bo ...
. He found himself in demand for radio and newspaper interviews, and a highly fictionalised 'autobiography' was published the following year, titled . Ghost-written
A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often hir ...
for him by a journalist, Paul Weymar, following some brief interviews with Prien in March and April 1940, the manuscript was edited by the ''Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
The (; abbreviated OKW ː kaːˈveArmed Forces High Command) was the Command (military formation), supreme military command and control Staff (military), staff of Nazi Germany during World War II, that was directly subordinated to Adolf ...
'' (the German high command) and the Reich Ministry of Propaganda. It was intended as an adventure story for boys. When Prien received a copy of the book, he angrily made numerous corrections to the text, and when an English translation of the book was published in 1955, Weymar wrote a letter of protest to the British publisher saying that the "demonstrably false" account should not have been published out of context and he donated his royalties to charity.
The Admiralty Board of Inquiry's president was Admiral Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, assisted by Admiral Robert Raikes and Captain Gerard Muirhead-Gould. Their official report into the disaster condemned the defences at Scapa Flow, and censured Sir Wilfred French, Admiral Commanding, Orkneys and Shetlands
The Admiral Commanding, Orkneys and Shetlands was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. He was charged with the administration of the Orkney and Shetland Islands and operating and defending the fleet base at Scapa Flow that was the main a ...
, for their unprepared state. French was placed on the retired list, despite having warned the previous year of Scapa Flow's deficient anti-submarine defences, and volunteering to bring a small ship or submarine himself past the blockships to prove his point. On Churchill's orders, the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow were sealed with concrete causeway
A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...
s linking Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm
Glimps Holm or Glims Holm is a small uninhabited islet in Orkney, Scotland. It lies in Holm Sound, one of the eastern entrances to Scapa Flow, between Mainland Orkney and the island of Burray. Nearby is Lamb Holm. The two are linked by Churchi ...
, Burray and South Ronaldsay
South Ronaldsay (, also , ) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. It is linked to the Orkney Mainland by the Churchill Barriers, running via Burray, Glimps Holm and Lamb Holm.
Name
Along with North Ronaldsay, the islan ...
to Mainland
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or demogr ...
. Constructed largely by Italian prisoners of war, the Churchill Barriers
The Churchill Barriers are four causeways in the Orkney islands with a total length of . They link the Orkney Mainland in the north to the island of South Ronaldsay via Burray and the two smaller islands of Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm.
The b ...
, as they became known, were essentially complete by September 1944, and were opened officially just after VE Day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...
in May 1945.
In a second report, the Board of Inquiry considered the actual sinking of ''Royal Oak'' and the resulting loss of life, which having been in port and in calm water was thought to be "very heavy". The report concluded that the main cause was due to an unusually high number of men having been below the main armoured deck because they had been sent to air defence stations. Their escape was slowed because of the number of watertight doors which were closed. The question of "deadlights" was also considered; these were ventilated metal plates that replaced the glass panes in the scuttles or porthole
A porthole, sometimes called bull's-eye window or bull's-eye, is a generally circular window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehic ...
s when ships were in port, allowing the wartime blackout to be observed. It was thought that water flooding through these had hastened the initial heeling over, but having the ventilators closed would not have saved the ship.
In the years that followed, a rumour circulated that Prien had been guided into Scapa by Alfred Wehring, a German agent living in Orkney in the guise of a Swiss watchmaker named Albert Oertel; following the attack, 'Oertel' supposedly escaped in the submarine ''B-06'' to Germany. This account of events originated as an article by the journalist Curt Riess in the 16 May 1942 issue of the American magazine ''Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...
'' and was later embellished by other authors.[ Post-war searches through German and Orcadian archives have failed to find any evidence for the existence of Oertel, Wehring or a submarine named ''B-06'', and the story is now held to be wholly fictitious. In 1959, the Orkneys' preeminent watchmaker, Mr E. W. Hourton, informed "with the utmost assurance" the editor of ''The Orkney Herald'' that in his lifetime there had never been a watchmaker named Oertel in Kirkwall nor anyone resembling such a person.][ Orkney's chief librarian, in a 1983 letter to the historian Nigel West, suggested that the name Albert Oertel was likely a pun on the well-known Albert Hotel in ]Kirkwall
Kirkwall (, , or ; ) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. First mentioned in the ''Orkneyinga saga'', it is today the location of the headquarters of the Orkney Islands Council and a transport hub wi ...
.[
]
Survivors
In the immediate aftermath of the sinking, ''Royal Oak''s survivors were billeted in the towns and villages of Orkney. A funeral parade for the dead took place at Lyness
Lyness is a village on the east coast of the island of Hoy, Orkney, Scotland. The village is within the parish of Walls and Flotta, and is situated at the junction of the B9047 and B9048.
During the 1920s Lyness was briefly the headquarters of t ...
on Hoy on 16 October; many of the surviving crew, having lost all their own clothing on the ship, attended in borrowed boiler suits and gym shoes. They were generally granted a few days survivors' leave by the navy, and then assigned to ships and roles elsewhere.
Prien did not survive the war: he and ''U-47'' were lost on 7 March 1941, possibly as a result of an attack by the British destroyer . News of the loss was kept secret by the Nazi government for ten weeks. Several ''U-47'' crew from the ''Royal Oak'' mission did survive, having been transferred to other vessels. Some of them subsequently met with their former enemies from ''Royal Oak'' and forged friendships with them.
The HMS ''Royal Oak'' Association holds an Act of Remembrance annually at Portsmouth, the ''Royal Oak's'' home port, on the Saturday nearest to 13 October; originally at the Naval Memorial at Southsea
Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre.
Southsea began as a f ...
, but in later years at St Ann's Church, Portsmouth Naval Base. At the service on 9 October 2019, eighty years after the sinking, a memorial stone was unveiled in the church by Anne, Princess Royal
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...
, the Commodore-in-Chief of HMNB Portsmouth. Some one hundred and fifty relatives and descendants of the crew were in attendance.
Kenneth Toop, who survived the sinking while serving as a boy, first class, on ''Royal Oak'', served as the Association's honorary secretary for fifteen years. The last remaining survivor of ''Royal Oak'', Arthur Smith, died on 11 December 2016. Serving as a 17-year-old boy, first class, he had been on watch on the bridge when the ship was struck and jumped from the sinking vessel, swimming in the wrong direction until he was picked up by a boat and transferred to the ''Daisy 2''.
Wreck
Status as war grave
Despite the relatively shallow water in which she sank, the majority of bodies could not be recovered from ''Royal Oak''. Marked by a buoy at , the wreck has been designated a war grave
A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations.
Definition
The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...
and all diving or other unauthorised forms of exploration are prohibited under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. In clear water conditions, the upturned hull can be seen reaching to within 5 m of the surface. The brass letters that formed ''Royal Oak''s name were removed as a keepsake by a recreational diver in the 1970s. They were returned almost twenty years later, and are now displayed in the Scapa Flow visitor centre in Lyness. ''Royal Oak''s loss is commemorated in an annual ceremony in which Royal Navy divers place the White Ensign
The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign because of the simultaneous existence of a crossless version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cr ...
underwater at her stern.
A memorial at St Magnus Cathedral
St Magnus Cathedral dominates the skyline of Kirkwall, the main town of Orkney, a group of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. Originally Roman Catholic, it is the oldest cathedral in Scotland and the most northerly cathedral in the ...
in nearby Kirkwall displays a plaque dedicated to those who died, beneath which a book of remembrance lists their names. This list of names was not released by the Government until 40 years after the sinking. Each week a page of the book is turned. The ship's bell was recovered in the 1970s and, after being restored, was added to the memorial in St Magnus. Twenty-six bodies, eight of which could not be identified, were interred at the naval cemetery in nearby Lyness.
Environmental concerns
''Royal Oak'' sank fully fuelled with approximately 3,000 ton
Ton is any of several units of measure of mass, volume or force. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses.
As a unit of mass, ''ton'' can mean:
* the '' long ton'', which is
* the ''tonne'', also called the ''metric ...
s of furnace fuel oil aboard. The oil leaked from the corroding hull at an increased rate during the 1990s and concerns about the environmental impact led the Ministry of Defence
A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
to consider plans for extracting it. ''Royal Oak''s status as a war grave required that surveys and any proposed techniques for removing the oil be handled sensitively: plans in the 1950s to raise and salvage the wreck had been dropped in response to public opposition. In addition to the ethical concerns, poorly managed efforts could destabilise the wreck, resulting in a mass release of the remaining oil; the ship's magazines also containing many tons of unexploded ordnance
Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...
.
The MOD commissioned a series of multi-beam sonar surveys to image the wreck and appraise its condition. The high-resolution sonograms showed ''Royal Oak'' to be lying almost upside down with her top works forced into the seabed. The tip of the bow had been blown off by ''U-47''s first torpedo and a gaping hole on the starboard flank was the result of the triple strike from her second successful salvo. Following several years of delays, Briggs Marine was contracted by the MoD to conduct the task of pumping off the remaining oil. ''Royal Oak'''s mid-construction conversion to fuel oil had placed her fuel tanks in unconventional positions, complicating operations. By 2006, all double bottom tanks had been cleared and the task of removing oil from the inner wing tanks with cold cutting equipment began the next year. By 2010, 1,600 tons of fuel oil had been removed, and the wreck was declared to be no longer actively releasing oil into Scapa Flow. Up to 783 m3 of oil is thought to remain within the ship; plans exist to resume pumping in mid-2021.
2019 survey
Rebreather diver Emily Turton announced at the EUROTEK advanced diving conference in December 2018 that an international team of experts were surveying the wreck of ''Royal Oak'' to create a three-dimensional image of the war grave. This process takes thousands of man-hour dives over several months. The team used an extensive range of technology including videography, underwater photography and 3D photogrammetry to record the wreck. The survey had the support of the Royal Navy and the Royal Oak Association.
To mark the 81st anniversary of the sinking in October 2020, Holoxica, a survey partner, unveiled an interactive 3D model of the sunken battleship. The model was based on sonar data from experts at the Universities of St Andrews and Dundee.
See also
* List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines
While submarines were invented centuries ago, development of self-propelled torpedoes during the latter half of the 19th century dramatically increased the effectiveness of military submarines.
Initial submarine scouting patrols against surface ...
* – another battleship sunk in harbour by a surprise attack and now a war grave
* Drake's Drum
Drake's Drum is a snare drum that Francis Drake, Sir Francis Drake took with him when he Francis Drake's Circumnavigation, circumnavigated the world. Shortly before he died he ordered the drum to be taken to Buckland Abbey and vowed that if Eng ...
— mysterious victory drumming that erupted aboard ''Royal Oak'' when the German Imperial Navy surrendered at Scapa Flow in 1918 was attributed to the ghost of Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...
Notes
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Further reading
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External links
hmsroyaloak.co.uk
Website dedicated to the ship and its crew
''Royal Oak'' details and hydrographic report
(in French, German and Dutch)
*
Part transcript of ADM 199/158 Board of Enquiry in National Archives
IWM interview with survivor Howard Instance
IWM interview with survivor John Hall
IWM interview with survivor Herbert Pocock
Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project: HMS ''Royal Oak'' crew list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Oak (1914)
Revenge-class battleships
Ships built in Plymouth, Devon
1914 ships
World War I battleships of the United Kingdom
Maritime incidents in 1918
World War II battleships of the United Kingdom
Maritime incidents in October 1939
Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II
World War II shipwrecks in Scapa Flow
Protected wrecks of Scotland
1939 disasters in the United Kingdom
1914 in England
1939 in Scotland
Spanish Civil War ships