THE BLOCKSHIPS
The story of Scapa Flow is the story of British Naval history since the late 19th century. Chosen as the most important base of our navy due to it’s strategic geographical location guarding the entrance to the North Atlantic for many of the European countries it was the British Grand Fleet’s main anchorage for both World Wars. ‘The Flow’ as it is known in naval circles is guarded by a number of small islands round it’s periphery but the many channels between these islands offered an opportunity to enemy vessels, especially U-boats, to penetrate the anchorage and attack the fleet. During both conflicts the channels not used by the British to enter and exit the anchorage were blocked when dozens of vessels were deliberated scuttled to ensure the enemy could not penetrate – the wreckage of many of these vessels still lies where they were sunk. Some were removed after the end of both conflicts but many remain with some even visible above water and ashore. These are the blockships.
We have now added a full section to our website ( The Blockships ) which you can access here providing the history of the vessels, the details of their scuttling (and subsequent removal if appropriate) and the position and status of the wrecks today. The section includes some interesting, previously unseen, photographs of the wrecks in position from the Arnott and Young photograph collection.
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