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The Orkneys at War

The Orkney Islands provide one of the great sheltered anchorages in the waters known as Scapa Flow.

Thisformation of waters and islands came to be of strategicimportance during both WWI and WWII.

At the close of WWI, the German fleet was interned there,
awaiting its disposition to the various world powers which were the victors in 'The Great War'. With Great Britain's Royal Navy away on a naval exercise on June 21, 1919, the German commanders ordered the sinking of their battleships, heavy cruisers, destroyers and other ships. Today, many of these ships have been raised and sold for scrap, while some remain in place where they sank in 1919.

Between the wars, Winston Churchill ordered the blocking of passages through an island chain in order to prevent foreign submarines from entering the anchorage at Scapa Flow. Unfortunately, the block ships were insufficient,
and a German submarine sank a Royal Navy heavy cruiser at anchor in 1939.

Churchill then ordered the completion of a causeway linking the Orkney Mainland with the islands of Lambs Holm, Burray, and South Ronaldsay to once and for all
completely block access to Scapa Flow from the East. Today, various blockships remain in close
proximity to the Churchill Barriers.

1.     Scuttled Fleet at rest in Scapa Flow, Orkney Mainland
2.     Barrier Two, Churchill Barrier
3.     Gunnery Bunker, Cara Point
4.     Blast Door, Cara Point
5.     Fractured Block Ship, Barrier Two
6.     RAF Twatt (ca. 1941-44)
7.     Lifeboat davits, South Ronaldsay
8.     Beached, South Ronaldsay
9.     Barrier One (Burray), Churchill Barriers
10.   Scapa Bay, Scapa Flow
         
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