It happened on this day in 1939....

[krashkart]

Just read on uboat.net today that the sinking of Royal Oak motivated the RN to abandon Scapa Flow as a naval base.

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by krashkart

Just read on uboat.net today that the sinking of Royal Oak motivated the RN to abandon Scapa Flow as a naval base.

Link? Coz I have always wondered if they decided Scapa was fundamentally unsecure.

When it was pretty clear the German battle fleet really couldn't get out, or have a role to play, I would suspect Scapa became far less important, and many capital ships could be employed elsewhere.

But Churchill certainly used resources to block the Scapa entrances, and put in a pretty difficult minefield up the coast.

The base itself was closed in 1956.

[krashkart]

Originally Posted by desirableroasted

Link? Coz I have always wondered if they decided Scapa was fundamentally unsecure.

When it was pretty clear the German battle fleet really couldn't get out, or have a role to play, I would suspect Scapa became far less important, and many capital ships could be employed elsewhere.

But Churchill certainly used resources to block the Scapa entrances, and put in a pretty difficult minefield up the coast.

The base itself was closed in 1956.

Not finding the one I read at uboat.net earlier -- it was much more concise than the article The Bull of Scapa Flow. However, this page sums it up:

http://www.u47.org/english/u47_sca.asp?page=7


Looking over that section I don't come away with the same impression I had earlier.