First off was the old Naval base on Hoy, But unfortunately while I was there the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre was closed for refurbishment, although we did have a guided walk around the site.
Important item - the buffalo burger van underneath a gun from the High Seas Fleet. The Orkneys are not renowned for their herds of buffalo, but these were made from local produce.
One remaining crane of four that were used to move the anti-submarine nets a section of which is underneath
A schematic of the site at its height
The extent of the visitor centre
The centre with some external exhibits, the oil tank behind also houses some more
The 150mm deck gun salvaged from the German mine-laying cruiser SMS Bremse that was scuttles along with the rest of the High Seas Fleet.
Naval Cemetary
Ness battery commands the western entrance to the flow and is better preserved and has organised visits (but none convenient for me)
Information board
barracks and emplacements behind the wire
Closer view
Fire Control Tower on Graemsay across Hoy Sound
Hoxa Head batteries
3 remains of the barrack blocks
The view across Hoxa Sound, the major entrance to the flow
On lower promontories are the searchlight positions
The height of the gun positions are quite surprising
Information board
6 inch gun position
Hoxa head from the sound
close up
Fire control position on Flotta across the sound
A final view of Hoxa Head as we left Orkney
3 comments:
Interesting place to visit. It manages to look pretty bleak, even during one of our hottest summers in living memory. I shudder to think what it was like on a bitter January day. Interesting that many of the military structures appear to be designed to a universal plan, as they closely resemble a lot of the old fortifications that were/are around the Sound and Naval Dockyard at Plymouth.
Cheers, Andy
Thank you for this Will. My Dad was in the Coastal Defence artillery during WW2 and served on the Orkneys for about a year.
Very interesting - I must admit I did not realised it was no longer in use. So much history, there's another one for my bucket list.
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