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. She was unable on 14 July to prevent the seizure of the British freighter Molton by the Spanish nationalist cruiser Almirante Cervera while trying to enter Santander. Aided by boats from Pegasus and the harbour,[97] he was responsible for rescuing almost all the survivors, an act for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross,[98] the only military award made by the British in connection with the disaster. [55], In May 1937, she and HMS Forester escorted SS Habana, a liner carrying Basque child refugees, to England. Pictures of Royal Oak. Mostly hidden behind her was a second ship, only the bow of which was visible to U-47. [75] She was in fact the World War I seaplane tender Pegasus. [139] 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. 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. HMS Royal Oak was a Royal Navy battleship under Captain WH Benn. HMS Royal Oak was the last and largest battleship to be built at Devonport, launched in 1914 and completed in 1916. This process takes thousands of man-hour dives over several months. A pair of quadruple mounts for Vickers .50 machine guns were added abreast the conning tower. [138], 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. The barbettes ranged in thickness from 6–10 inches (152–254 mm) above the upper deck, but were only 4 to 6 inches thick below it. On 18 August, the Germans again sortied, this time to bombard Sunderland; Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the German fleet commander, hoped to draw out the British battlecruisers and destroy them. [56] In July, as the war in northern Spain flared up, Royal Oak, along with her sister HMS Resolution rescued the steamer Gordonia when Spanish nationalist warships attempted to capture her off Santander. [64], Scapa Flow made a near-ideal anchorage. [145] Up to 783 m3 of oil is thought to remain within the ship; plans exist to resume pumping in mid-2021. Over 100 of them were boy sailors between 15-17 years old. [75] This time he was successful. Memorabilia. Mindful of the unexplained explosion that had destroyed HMS Vanguard at Scapa Flow in 1917,[69][f] an announcement was made over Royal Oak's tannoy system to check the magazine temperatures,[g] but many sailors returned to their hammocks, unaware the ship was under attack.[81][85]. [36] What began as a simple dispute between Rear-Admiral Bernard Collard and Royal Oak's two senior officers, Captain Kenneth Dewar and Commander Henry Daniel, over the band at the ship's wardroom dance,[b] descended into a bitter personal feud that spanned several months. [41], For their letters of complaint, Dewar and Daniel were controversially charged with writing "subversive documents". [137], Royal Oak sank fully fuelled with approximately 3,000 tons of furnace fuel oil aboard. The mainmast was reconstructed as a tripod to support the weight of a radio-direction finding office and a second High-Angle Control Station. [13] Underwater protection improved by the addition of anti-torpedo bulges. They were designed to reduce the effect of torpedo detonations and improve stability at the cost of widening the ship's beam by over 13 feet (4 m). [48], 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,[49] and even a comic jazz oratorio composed by Erwin Schulhoff. Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Royal Oak, after the Royal Oak in which Charles II hid himself during his flight from the country in the English Civil War: . [142] By 2010, 1600 tons of fuel oil had been removed, and the wreck was declared to be no longer actively releasing oil into Scapa Flow. [127] News of the loss was kept secret by the Nazi government for ten weeks. Upon her completion in 1894, she was initially placed in reserve until mobilised in 1896 for service with the Flying Squadron.After returning briefly to reserve, the ship was assigned the following year to the Mediterranean Fleet. We also have a detailed page on the British battleship HMS Royal Oak (08).. [118], In the immediate aftermath of the sinking, Royal Oak's survivors were billeted in the towns and villages of Orkney. 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. [75] It was briefly caught in the headlights of a taxi onshore, but the driver raised no alarm. She scored a hit on Wiesbaden aft with her third salvo. [1], Royal Oak had a length overall of 620 feet 7 inches (189.2 m), a beam of 88 feet 6 inches (27 m) and a deep draught of 33 feet 7 inches (10.2 m). This was the first time in Naval history that permission had been granted to place ashes in an official war grave. Aboard HMS Royal Oak (08) when hit on 14 Oct 1939 [140] In addition to the ethical concerns, poorly managed efforts could destabilise the wreck, resulting in a mass release of the remaining oil;[141] the ship's magazines also containing many tons of unexploded ordnance. On October 31 1939 HMS Royal Oak was sunk by U Boat attack in Scapa Flow, with the loss of 914 sailors. 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. HMS Royal Oak was one of five Revenge-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. She now lies on the seabed in 30 metres of water, 4" guns top left and 6" guns bottom right. [46] Daniel attempted a career in journalism, but when this and other ventures were unsuccessful, he disappeared into obscurity amid poor health in South Africa. HMS Royal Oak. [88] Royal Oak quickly listed to 15°, sufficient to push the open starboard-side portholes below the waterline. HMS Royal Oak was a Revenge-class Battleship in the 3rd Division of the 4th Battle Squadron under the command of Captain Crawford MacLachlan. [67] Blockships 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. The battleship sank quickly with the loss of more than 800 lives. In 1934 the platforms were removed from the turrets and a catapult was installed on the roof of 'X' turret, along with a crane to recover a seaplane. [94], 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. [92] The admiral's wooden gig, moored alongside, was dragged down with Royal Oak. The Revenge-class ships had multiple armoured decks that ranged from 1 to 4 inches (25 to 102 mm) in thickness. [23] Fifteen minutes later, Jellicoe gave the order to turn and deploy the fleet for action. The fleet sailed in concert with Rear-Admiral Franz von Hipper's five battlecruisers and supporting cruisers and torpedo boats. Each turret was also fitted with a 15-foot rangefinder. [88] Cordite from a magazine ignited and the ensuing fireball passed rapidly through the ship's internal spaces. 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. The team used an extensive range of technology including videography, underwater photography and 3D photogrammetry to record the wreck. She never remarried and they were reunited in October 2000. They were escorted by the destroyers HMS Broke (Capt. Send all boats", and half an hour later "Royal Oak is sinking after several internal explosions". [42] In a pair of highly publicised courts-martial, both were found guilty and severely reprimanded, leading Daniel to resign from the Navy. [60] 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 in preparation for another 30-month tour of the Mediterranean,[61] for which her crew were issued tropical uniforms. [101], The British were initially confused as to the cause of the sinking, suspecting either an on-board explosion or aerial attack. [52][53] Later that same month, while stationed off Valencia on 23 February 1937 during an aerial bombardment by the Nationalists, she was accidentally struck by an anti-aircraft shell fired from a Republican position. Read More. This website provides the definitive guide to the maritime archaeology and history of Scapa Flow. The up-turned hull is the shallowest point of the wreck and is just 12 metres below the surface. On such a patrol and steaming 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) east of Gibraltar on 2 February 1937, she came under aerial attack by three aircraft of the Republican forces. The High Seas Fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Treaty of Versailles. [124] Kenneth Toop, who survived the sinking while serving as a boy, first class on Royal Oak, served as the HMS Royal Oak Association's honorary secretary. [63][65] 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. [41] Public attention reached such proportions as to raise the concerns of the King, who summoned First Lord of the Admiralty William Bridgeman for an explanation. [93], 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. HMS Royal Oak was attacked on 14 October 1939 by a U-boat tasked with targeting the Royal Navy's Home Fleet's main base in Scapa Flow. As an economy measure they were intended to revert to the previous practice of using both fuel oil and coal, but First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher rescinded the decision for coal in October 1914. [59], In 1938, Royal Oak returned to the Home Fleet and was made flagship of the Second Battle Squadron based in Portsmouth. [121][122] 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. Roll-call of those lost. [29] 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. Her first commanding officer was Captain Pulteney Malcolm. Dorothy was the wife of Bandsman Arthur Golding who went down with the ship. [63][64] The mission had underlined the obsolescence of the 25-year-old warship. The portholes were not, in fact, fully open, but were covered with light excluders, designed to provide ventilation while maintaining blackout. Despite the bulges she was able to reach a speed of 21.75 knots (40.28 km/h; 25.03 mph). While under construction the ships were redesigned to employ oil-fired boilers that increased the power of the engines by 9,000 shaft horsepower (6,700 kW) over the original specification. [45] His promotion to rear-admiral, which would normally have been a formality, was delayed until the following year, just one day before his retirement. Of the 1259 men on board, 835 were killed. The Royal Navy's Room 40 had intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic containing plans of the operation. Derfflinger then disappeared in the haze, so Royal Oak shifted fire to the next battlecruiser, SMS Seydlitz. QUICK LINK: Memories of Scotland in World War Two. [15] 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. [13] A 30-foot (9.1 m) rangefinder[11] was fitted in 'B' turret and a simple high-angle rangefinder was added above the bridge. Crucially, they were not watertight. The loss of the outdated ship—the first of five Royal Navy battleships and battlecruisers sunk in the Second World War—did little to affect the numerical superiority enjoyed by the British navy and its Allies, but it had a considerable effect on wartime morale. 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. [74] Its goal would be twofold: first, displacing the Home Fleet from Scapa Flow would slacken the British North Sea 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 had scuttled itself following Germany's defeat in the First World War. DVD, Submerged DVDs and Books. In an annual ceremony marking the loss of the ship, Royal Navy divers place a White Ensign underwater at her stern. [125] The last remaining survivor of Royal Oak, Arthur Smith, who had been a 17-year-old boy, first class when the ship was struck, died on 11 December 2016. 2 talking about this. L.V. Constructed in 1914, HMS Royal Oak saw combat at the Battle of Jutland during the First World War and in peacetime served as part of the Atlantic, Home and Mediterranean fleets. Royal Oak remained behind, her anti-aircraft guns still deemed a useful addition to Scapa's otherwise scanty air defences. Many of her Carley floats had been smashed and several of the smaller-calibre guns rendered inoperable through flooding. [123] They were generally granted a few days survivors' leave by the navy, and then assigned to ships and roles elsewhere. A sudden Force 10 squall caused Campania to drag her anchor, collide with Royal Oak and then with Glorious. [119] 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 and was later embellished by other authors. HMS Royal Oak (1664) was a 76-gun second rate launched in 1664 and burnt by the Dutch in 1667 in the Raid on the Medway. The shock resulted in rapid changes to dockland security and the construction of the Churchill Barriers around Scapa Flow. [47] Collard retreated to private life and never spoke publicly of the incident again. [132] In clear water conditions, the upturned hull can be seen reaching to within 5 m of the surface. June 9, 2009 at 3:34 pm. [25] German torpedo boats 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. [90] 835 men died with the ship or died later of their wounds. The boat became overladen and capsized 300 metres from Royal Oak, throwing those on deck into the water and trapping those below. 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. In peacetime, she served in the Atlantic, Home and Mediterranean fleets, more than once coming under accidental attack. She was launched in 1914, and fought at the Battle of Jutland. Morgan, CBE, MVO, DSC, RN) both departed Scapa Flow to patrol to the east of the Fair Isle Channel. R.F. [110] 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. On the 61st anniversary the ashes of Dorothy Golding were taken down by her grandson Christopher Kilford and placed inside the ship. [111][112], The Admiralty Board of Inquiry's president was Admiral Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, assisted by Admiral Robert Raikes and Captain Gerard Muirhead-Gould. [6] A torpedo-control director with a 15-foot rangefinder was mounted at the aft end of the superstructure. Of Royal Oak's complement of 1,234 men and boys, 835 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. [43], During the Spanish Civil War, Royal Oak was tasked with conducting non-intervention patrols around the Iberian Peninsula. 1932-34 photo album. U-47 had been heading directly towards four warships, including the newly commissioned light cruiser Belfast, anchored off Flotta and Hoy 4 nautical miles (8 km, 5 mi) distant, but Prien gave no indication he had seen them. The tender Daisy 2, skippered by John Gatt, had been tied up for the night to Royal Oak's port side. The story was picked up by the press worldwide, which described the affair with some hyperbole. 833 men lost their lives and the 2nd World War was just six weeks old. [118][120] 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. During her sea trials on 22 May 1916, the ship reached a top speed of only 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) from 40,360 shp (30,100 kW). The top two images are artist impressions of how she now lies. [92], The Nazi Propaganda Ministry was quick to capitalise on the successful raid,[105][106] and radio broadcasts by the popular journalist Hans Fritzsche displayed the triumph felt throughout Germany. She was launched on 17 November, and after fitting-out was commissioned on 1 May 1916 at a final cost of £2,468,269. R. Kerr, RN), HMS Wanderer (Cdr. [32] 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. ", The taxi driver's name was Robbie Tullock. HMS Princessa. The fleet rendezvoused with the British light cruiser Cardiff, which led the ships to the Allied fleet that was to escort the Germans to Scapa Flow. New underwater photos of HMS Royal Oak. 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. This is the official page of the HMS Royal Oak Association. Dönitz said of Prien: "He, in my opinion, possessed all the personal qualities and the professional ability required. Royal Oak's secondary guns were the first to open fire, at 19:16, followed quickly by the rest of the British ships. The Grand Fleet sortied too late to catch the retreating Germans, although the battlecruiser SMS Moltke was torpedoed and badly damaged by the submarine HMS E42. The BBC 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. 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