Scapa Flow is the final resting-place of the German First World War High Seas Fleet. Following armistice the entire fleet was interned at Scapa Flow - having been defeated at the Battle of Jutland by the UK's Grand Fleet. In June 1919 Admiral von Reuter ordered the entire fleet to be scuttled to prevent them becoming prizes of war. The ships sunk fast and there was very little that the British could do, but watch. Most of the vessels were salvaged in the 1920's, leaving 3 battleships; Kronprinz Willelm, Konig & Margraf and 4 cruisers, Karlsruhe, Dresden, Koln & Brummer. And it is these ships that can be dived today.

In the Second World War Scapa Flow remained important as a naval base and it suffered a tragedy when the HMS Royal Oak was sunk by U 47 with the loss of 833 lives. This site remains a war grave.

This was my 3rd dive trip to the area, and I felt I knew what to expect from the trip, however I was pretty stunned when I stepped off the ferry at 9pm, to what seemed to be the back end of a pretty big party. Music playing, everyone on the street, and quite a few drunken casualties - it was the end of Stromness shopping week and Cameron had just won big brother. There were also a lot more charter boats than before and all had big "J" cylinders of oxygen on board. It was quite a disconcerting sight, and although we could not get into a single pub that evening it was made up by some pretty good fireworks.

The diving was excellent, but quite hard work. The main ships are in about 30 - 40 m range, so they are quite deep. All of the cruisers lie on their side so it is possible to swim along elements of super structure and view the hulls. All of the battleships are upside down or very close to it. All of the ships have been blasted in their hulls to enable salvage of the engine rooms etc. Having said that the ships have worn pretty well for their 80 years under water. The battleships were considered to be the top fighting vessel in this war and the German ships main armoury consisted of 12 inch guns (barrel diameter) which could fire a shell of 2 tons over 10 miles. These are big ships, 28,000 tons, much too big for 1 dive, it is possible to see a small section of these and in the case of the Kronprinz it is possible to get from the shot one of the big guns, by going right underneath. I personally didn't manage this, but after seeing the cupola guns on the Margraf I can only imagine the size - one for next time. It is possible to swim the length of the cruisers, just, and they are a lot easier to navigate as they are all on their side. My best dive on these was on the Koln (one of the most intact), where we swam from the shot towards the salvage at the stern, back across the hull, past some guns, past the bridge and gunnery observation room, into the orderlies quarters, right to the bows and then back towards the stern. Of the main fleet we only missed diving the Konig.

Scapa Flow is not just about the fleet, we also dived 2 blockships, that were sunk to seal off the harbour and prevent enemy uboat attack. The best dive of these is the Tarbarka. Which is upside down in about 14m, you do the whole dive inside the vessel. Inside there are some massive boilers and the engine is effectively nailed to the roof. I was able to indulge my passion for swimming along prop shafts (again on the roof) inside - but I need some thinner buddies. A very beautiful dive with the light filtering through holes in the ship and very clear water. The Tarbarka was the end of a perfect days diving with the Margraf in the morning (first time) and a pod of Killer Whales on the way our. KILLER BLOODY WHALES - another first, with at least one adult, 2 babies and some juveniles swimming right past the boat. Also in the week we saw quite a few dolphins, and we were bombarded under water by puffins on a scenic dive that was a very nice wall.

The other significant dive was the James Barrie a fishing vessel lying in 42m of water. We were fortunate to be the first boat there and Steve and myself were the first in the water, and we got to swim from bow to stern on our own. On the way back to the shot however we could see a horde of divers bubbles. It was like something out of Thunderball with tekkie divers with multiple cylinders piling over - one was even on a scooter, pointing video cameras in all directions. It later turned out that these divers had indulged in a bit of queue jumping, managed to drag the shot down with them - a case of too much money not enough ability.

On the subject of tekkies, the diving here provided me with the perfect opportunity to put my Nitrox ticket to the test. The depths that we were diving for breathing mixes ranging from 36% down to 25%. I was diving with air buddies on the same computer, but by the end of the week I was being given up to 20 minutes extra no stop time. For example on the last dive on the Koln on a 33% mix - Duncan was down to 7 mins no stop and I had 22 on my computer. This was more significant because this was my second 30m + dive of the day and Duncans first. I now want to go back but no more air buddies for me.

Thanks to Steve for organising the trip, my buddies Duncan, Mick Brown (special mention for Captain Pugwash), Hilary, Steve. Last word KILLER WHALES!!!!

Alan Brown


Fruits der Mer

Happy DO

Ready to dive

Ring of Brodigar