HMS Royal Oak (08)
Royal Oak at anchor in 1937
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | Royal Oak |
Builder | Devonport Royal Dockyard |
Cost | £2,468,269 |
Laid down | 15 January 1914 |
Launched | 17 November 1914 |
Commissioned | 1 May 1916 |
Identification | Pennant number: 08[2] |
Nickname(s) | Mighty Oak[1] |
Fate | Sunk by U-47, 14 October 1939 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Revenge-class battleship |
Displacement | |
Length | 620 ft 7 in (189.2 m) |
Beam | 88 ft 6 in (27 m) |
Draught | 33 ft 7 in (10.2 m) (Deep load) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 4 Shafts; 2 steam turbine sets |
Speed | 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) |
Range | 7,000 nmi (12,960 km; 8,060 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Crew | 909 |
Armament |
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Armour |
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HMS Royal Oak was one of five
On 14 October 1939, Royal Oak was anchored at
The wreck of Royal Oak, a designated war grave, lies almost upside down in 100 feet (30 m) of water with her hull 16 feet (4.9 m) beneath the surface. In an annual ceremony marking the loss of the ship, Royal Navy divers place a White Ensign underwater at her stern. Unauthorised divers are prohibited from approaching the wreck under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
Design and description
The Revenge-class ships were designed as slightly smaller, slower, and more heavily protected versions of the preceding
Royal Oak had a
The Revenge class was equipped with eight
Royal Oak was completed with two
The ship's
The ship was fitted with flying-off platforms, mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets, in 1918; from which fighters and reconnaissance aircraft could launch. In 1934 the platforms were removed from the turrets and a catapult was installed on the roof of 'X' turret, along with a crane to recover a seaplane.[14]
Major alterations
Royal Oak was extensively refitted between 1922 and 1924, when her anti-aircraft defences were upgraded by replacing the original three-inch AA guns with a pair of
The ship received a final refit between 1934 and 1936, when her deck armour was increased to 5 inches (13 cm) over the magazines and to 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) over the engine rooms. In addition to a general modernisation of the ship's systems, her anti-aircraft defences were strengthened by replacing the single mounts of the AA guns with twin mounts for the
Construction and service
Royal Oak was
First World War
Battle of Jutland
In an attempt to lure out and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, the German High Seas Fleet, composed of 16 dreadnoughts, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, 6 light cruisers, and 31 torpedo boats, departed the Jade early on the morning of 31 May. The fleet sailed in concert with Rear-Admiral Franz von Hipper's five battlecruisers and supporting cruisers and torpedo boats. The Royal Navy's Room 40 had intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic containing plans of the operation. The Admiralty ordered Admiral John Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet – totalling 28 dreadnoughts and 9 battlecruisers – to sortie the night before to cut off and destroy the High Seas Fleet.[24] The initial action was fought primarily by the British and German battlecruiser formations in the afternoon, but by 18:00 the Grand Fleet approached the scene.[25] Fifteen minutes later, Jellicoe gave the order to turn and deploy the fleet for action.[26]
The German cruiser SMS Wiesbaden had become disabled by British shellfire, and both sides concentrated in the area, the Germans trying to protect their cruiser and the British attempting to sink her. At 18:29, Royal Oak opened fire on the German cruiser, firing four salvoes from her main guns in quick succession, along with her secondary battery. She scored a hit on Wiesbaden aft with her third salvo. In return, Royal Oak was straddled by a German salvo at 18:33 but was undamaged.[27] German torpedo boats attempted to reach Wiesbaden shortly after 19:00, and at 19:07, Royal Oak's secondary guns opened fire on them, believing they were instead trying to launch a torpedo attack.[28] By 19:15, Royal Oak's gunners had observed the German battlecruiser squadron and opened fire at the leading vessel, SMS Derfflinger. The gunners overestimated the range initially, but by 19:20 had found the correct distance and scored a pair of hits aft, which did not inflict serious damage. Derfflinger then disappeared in the haze, so Royal Oak shifted fire to the next battlecruiser, SMS Seydlitz. She scored a hit at 19:27 before Seydlitz too was lost in the mist.[29]
While Royal Oak was attacking the battlecruisers, a German torpedo boat flotilla launched an attack on the British battleline. Royal Oak's secondary guns were the first to open fire, at 19:16, followed quickly by the rest of the British ships.[30] Following the German destroyer attack, the High Seas Fleet disengaged, and Royal Oak and the rest of the Grand Fleet saw no further action in the battle. This was, in part, due to confusion aboard the fleet flagship over the exact location and course of the German fleet; without this information, Jellicoe could not bring his fleet to action. At 21:30, the Grand Fleet began to reorganise into its night-time cruising formation.[31] Early on the morning of 1 June, the Grand Fleet combed the area, looking for damaged German ships, but after spending several hours searching, they found none.[32] In the course of the battle, Royal Oak had fired 38 rounds from her main battery and 84 rounds from her secondary guns.[33]
Later actions
Following the battle, Royal Oak was reassigned to the
On 5 November 1918, in the final week of the First World War, Royal Oak was anchored off Burntisland in the Firth of Forth accompanied by the seaplane tender Campania and the light battlecruiser Glorious. A sudden Force 10 squall caused Campania to drag her anchor, collide with Royal Oak and then with Glorious. Both capital ships suffered only minor damage, but Campania was holed by her initial collision with Royal Oak. The ship's engine rooms flooded, and she settled by the stern and sank five hours later, without loss of life.[36]
Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, the Allies interned most of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow. The fleet rendezvoused with the British light cruiser Cardiff, which led the ships to the Allied fleet that was to escort the Germans to Scapa Flow. The fleet consisted of 370 British, American, and French warships. The High Seas Fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Treaty of Versailles. Konteradmiral Ludwig von Reuter believed the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June 1919, which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty. That morning, the Grand Fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training manoeuvres, and while they were away von Reuter issued the order to scuttle the High Seas Fleet.[37]
1920s
The peacetime reorganisation of the Royal Navy assigned Royal Oak to the
When Dewar and Daniel wrote letters of complaint to Collard's superior,
For their letters of complaint, Dewar and Daniel were controversially charged with writing "subversive documents".[44] In a pair of highly publicised courts-martial held in Gibraltar, both were found guilty and severely reprimanded, leading Daniel to resign from the Navy. Collard himself was criticised for the excesses of his conduct by the press and in Parliament, and on being denounced by Bridgeman as "unfitted to hold further high command",[45] was forcibly retired from service.[46] Of the three, only Dewar escaped with his career, albeit a damaged one: he remained in the Royal Navy, but in a series of more minor commands.[47] His promotion to rear-admiral, which would normally have been a formality, was delayed until the following year, just one day before his retirement.[48] Daniel attempted a career in journalism, but when this and other ventures were unsuccessful, he disappeared into obscurity amid poor health in South Africa.[49] Collard retreated to private life and never spoke publicly of the incident again. On the retired list, he was promoted from Rear- to Vice-Admiral on 1 April 1931.[50]
The scandal proved an embarrassment to the reputation of the Royal Navy, then the world's largest, and it was satirised at home and abroad through editorials, cartoons,[51] and even a comic jazz oratorio composed by Erwin Schulhoff.[52] One consequence of the damaging affair was an undertaking from the Admiralty to review the means by which naval officers might bring complaints against the conduct of their superiors.[45]
1930s
During the
In May 1937, she and
This same period saw Royal Oak star alongside fourteen other Royal Navy vessels in the 1937 British film melodrama Our Fighting Navy, the plot of which centres around a coup in the fictional South American republic of Bianco. The Royal Navy saw the film as a recruitment opportunity and provided warships and extras. Royal Oak portrays a rebel battleship El Mirante, whose commander forces a British captain (played by Robert Douglas) into choosing between his lover and his duty.[60] The film was poorly received by critics, but gained some redemption through its dramatic scenes of naval action.[61]
In 1938, Royal Oak returned to the
Second World War
The next few weeks of the
Sinking
Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow made a near-ideal anchorage. Situated at the centre of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland, the natural harbour, large enough to contain the entire Grand Fleet,[68] was surrounded by a ring of islands separated by shallow channels subject to fast-racing tides. That U-boats still posed a threat had long been realised, and a series of countermeasures were installed during the early years of the First World War.[69] Blockships were sunk at critical points; and floating booms deployed to block the three widest channels, operated by tugboats to allow the passage of friendly shipping. It was considered possible, but highly unlikely, that a U-boat commander might attempt to race through undetected before the boom was closed.[69] Two submarines unsuccessfully attempted infiltration during the First World War: on 23 November 1914 U-18 was rammed twice before running aground with the capture of her crew,[70][71] and UB-116 was detected by hydrophone and destroyed with the loss of all hands on 28 October 1918.[72][73]
Scapa Flow provided the main anchorage for the
Special Operation P: the raid by U-47
Kriegsmarine Commander of Submarines (Befehlshaber der U-Boote) Karl Dönitz devised a plan to attack Scapa Flow by submarine within days of the outbreak of war.[76] Its goal would be twofold: first, displacing the Home Fleet from Scapa Flow would slacken the British North Sea blockade and grant Germany greater freedom to attack the Atlantic convoys; second, the blow would be a symbolic act of vengeance, striking at the same location where the German High Seas Fleet had scuttled itself following Germany's defeat in the First World War. Dönitz hand-picked Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien for the task,[76][c] scheduling the raid for the night of 13/14 October 1939, when the tides would be high and the night moonless.[76]
Dönitz was aided by high-quality photographs from a reconnaissance overflight by
On the reverse course, a lookout on the bridge spotted Royal Oak lying approximately 4,400 yards (4,000 m) to the north, correctly identifying her as a battleship of the
At 00:58 U-47 fired a salvo of three torpedoes from its bow tubes, a fourth lodging in its tube. Two failed to find a target, but a single torpedo struck the bow of Royal Oak at 01:04, shaking the ship and waking the crew.[83] There was little visible damage, but the starboard anchor chain had been severed, clattering noisily down through its slips. Initially, it was suspected that there had been an explosion in the ship's forward inflammable store, used to store materials such as kerosene. Mindful of the unexplained explosion that had destroyed HMS Vanguard at Scapa Flow in 1917,[71][f] an announcement was made over Royal Oak's tannoy system to check the magazine temperatures,[g] but many sailors returned to their hammocks, unaware the ship was under attack.[83][87]
Prien turned his submarine and attempted another shot via his stern tube, but this too missed. Reloading his bow tubes, he doubled back and fired a salvo of three torpedoes, all at Royal Oak.
Rescue efforts
The tender Daisy 2, skippered by John Gatt, had been tied up for the night to Royal Oak's port side. As the sinking battleship began to list to starboard, Gatt ordered Daisy 2 to be cut loose, his vessel becoming briefly caught on Royal Oak's rising anti-torpedo bulge and lifted from the sea before freeing herself.[95]
Many of Royal Oak's crew who had managed to jump from the sinking ship were dressed in little more than their nightclothes and were unprepared for the chilling water. A thick layer of fuel oil coated the surface, filling men's lungs and stomachs and hampering their efforts to swim. Of those who attempted the half-mile (800 m) swim to the nearest shore, only a handful survived.[96]
Royal Oak's port side pinnace was manoeuvred away from the sinking ship and paddled away using wooden boards as there had been insufficient time to raise steam. The boat became overladen and capsized 300 metres from Royal Oak, throwing those on deck into the water and trapping those below.[97][j]
Gatt switched the lights of Daisy 2 on and he and his crew managed to pull 386 men from the water, including Royal Oak's commander, Captain William Benn.[98] The rescue efforts continued for another two and a half hours until nearly 4:00 am, when Gatt abandoned the search for more survivors and took those he had to Pegasus. Aided by boats from Pegasus and the harbour,[99] he was responsible for rescuing almost all the survivors, an act for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross,[100] the only military award made by the British in connection with the disaster.[101] Pegasus had sent a message by signal lamp to the port signal station about five minutes after the sinking, saying "General. Send all boats", and half an hour later "Royal Oak is sinking after several internal explosions".[102] The total number of survivors was 424.[103]
Aftermath
The British were initially confused as to the cause of the sinking, suspecting either an on-board explosion or aerial attack.
The Nazi
Prien was nicknamed "The Bull of Scapa Flow" and his crew decorated U-47's conning tower with a snorting bull mascot, later adopted as the emblem of the 7th U-boat Flotilla. He found himself in demand for radio and newspaper interviews,[110] and his 'autobiography' was published the following year, titled Mein Weg nach Scapa Flow.[k] Ghost-written for him by a journalist, Paul Weymar, following some brief interviews with Prien in March and April 1940, the manuscript was edited by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (the German high command) and the Reich Ministry of Propaganda. It was intended as an adventure story for boys.[112] When Prien received a copy of the book, he angrily made numerous corrections to the text, and when an English translation of the book was published in 1955, Weymar wrote a letter of protest to the British publisher saying that the "demonstrably false" account should not have been published out of context and he donated his royalties to charity.[113][114]
The Admiralty Board of Inquiry's president was Admiral Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, assisted by Admiral Robert Raikes and Captain Gerard Muirhead-Gould.[115] Their official report into the disaster condemned the defences at Scapa Flow, and censured Sir Wilfred French, Admiral Commanding, Orkneys and Shetlands, for their unprepared state. French was placed on the retired list,[116] despite having warned the previous year of Scapa Flow's deficient anti-submarine defences, and volunteering to bring a small ship or submarine himself past the blockships to prove his point.[117] On Churchill's orders, the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow were sealed with concrete causeways linking Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay to Mainland. Constructed largely by Italian prisoners of war, the Churchill Barriers, as they became known, were essentially complete by September 1944, and were opened officially just after VE Day in May 1945.[118]
In a second report, the Board of Inquiry considered the actual sinking of Royal Oak and the resulting loss of life, which having been in port and in calm water was thought to be "very heavy". The report concluded that the main cause was due to an unusually high number of men having been below the main armoured deck because they had been sent to air defence stations. Their escape was slowed because of the number of watertight doors which were closed. The question of "deadlights" was also considered; these were ventilated metal plates that replaced the glass panes in the scuttles or portholes when ships were in port, allowing the wartime blackout to be observed. It was thought that water flooding through these had hastened the initial heeling over, but having the ventilators closed would not have saved the ship.[119]
In the years that followed, a rumour circulated that Prien had been guided into Scapa by Alfred Wehring, a German agent living in Orkney in the guise of a Swiss watchmaker named Albert Oertel;
Survivors
In the immediate aftermath of the sinking, Royal Oak's survivors were billeted in the towns and villages of Orkney. A funeral parade for the dead took place at Lyness on Hoy on 16 October; many of the surviving crew, having lost all their own clothing on the ship, attended in borrowed boiler suits and gym shoes.[125] They were generally granted a few days survivors' leave by the navy, and then assigned to ships and roles elsewhere.[126]
Prien did not survive the war: he and U-47 were lost on 7 March 1941, possibly as a result of an attack by the British destroyer HMS Wolverine.[127] News of the loss was kept secret by the Nazi government for ten weeks.[128] Several U-47 crew from the Royal Oak mission did survive, having been transferred to other vessels. Some of them subsequently met with their former enemies from Royal Oak and forged friendships with them.[129][l]
The HMS Royal Oak Association holds an Act of Remembrance annually at Portsmouth, the Royal Oak's home port, on the Saturday nearest to 13 October; originally at the Naval Memorial at Southsea,[130] but in later years at St Ann's Church, Portsmouth Naval Base. At the service on 9 October 2019, eighty years after the sinking, a memorial stone was unveiled in the church by Anne, Princess Royal, the Commodore-in-Chief of HMNB Portsmouth. Some one hundred and fifty relatives and descendants of the crew were in attendance.[131]
Kenneth Toop, who survived the sinking while serving as a boy, first class, on Royal Oak, served as the Association's honorary secretary for fifteen years.[132] The last remaining survivor of Royal Oak, Arthur Smith, died on 11 December 2016. Serving as a 17-year-old boy, first class, he had been on watch on the bridge when the ship was struck and jumped from the sinking vessel, swimming in the wrong direction until he was picked up by a boat and transferred to the Daisy 2.[133]
Wreck
Status as war grave
Despite the relatively shallow water in which she sank, the majority of bodies could not be recovered from Royal Oak. Marked by a buoy at 58°55′44″N 2°59′09″W / 58.92889°N 2.98583°W, the wreck has been designated a war grave and all diving or other unauthorised forms of exploration are prohibited under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.[134] In clear water conditions, the upturned hull can be seen reaching to within 5 m of the surface. The brass letters that formed Royal Oak's name were removed as a keepsake by a recreational diver in the 1970s. They were returned almost twenty years later, and are now displayed in the Scapa Flow visitor centre in Lyness.[135] Royal Oak's loss is commemorated in an annual ceremony in which Royal Navy divers place the White Ensign underwater at her stern.[136]
A memorial at St Magnus Cathedral in nearby Kirkwall displays a plaque dedicated to those who died, beneath which a book of remembrance lists their names. This list of names was not released by the Government until 40 years after the sinking. Each week a page of the book is turned. The ship's bell was recovered in the 1970s and, after being restored, was added to the memorial in St Magnus.[137] Twenty-six bodies, eight of which could not be identified,[138] were interred at the naval cemetery in nearby Lyness.[139]
Environmental concerns
Royal Oak sank fully fuelled with approximately 3,000 tons of furnace fuel oil aboard.[140] The oil leaked from the corroding hull at an increased rate during the 1990s and concerns about the environmental impact led the Ministry of Defence to consider plans for extracting it.[141] Royal Oak's status as a war grave required that surveys and any proposed techniques for removing the oil be handled sensitively: plans in the 1950s to raise and salvage the wreck had been dropped in response to public opposition.[142] In addition to the ethical concerns, poorly managed efforts could destabilise the wreck, resulting in a mass release of the remaining oil;[143] the ship's magazines also containing many tons of unexploded ordnance.[144][m]
The MOD commissioned a series of
2019 survey
Rebreather diver Emily Turton announced at the EUROTEK advanced diving conference in December 2018 that an international team of experts were surveying the wreck of Royal Oak to create a three-dimensional image of the war grave. This process takes thousands of man-hour dives over several months. The team used an extensive range of technology including videography, underwater photography and 3D photogrammetry to record the wreck. The survey had the full backing of the Royal Navy and the Royal Oak Association.[148]
See also
- List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines
- USS Arizona – another battleship sunk in harbour by a surprise attack and now a war grave
- Sir Francis Drake
Notes
- ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 20 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
- ^ The irascible Collard infamously called Marine Bandmaster Percy Barnacle "a bugger" in the presence of guests, and that he had "never heard such a bloody noise".[39]
- ^ Dönitz said of Prien: "He, in my opinion, possessed all the personal qualities and the professional ability required. I handed over to him the whole file on the subject and left him free to accept the task or not, as he saw fit."[76]
- ^ The taxi driver's name was Robbie Tullock. He did not notice U-47 passing through his headlights.[80]
- ^ "We are in Scapa Flow!"
- ^ Cdr R.F. Nichols, Royal Oak's second-in-command, had narrowly escaped death 22 years earlier as a midshipman of Vanguard when he had been away from the ship the night she exploded.[84] He had been attending a concert-party on board the amenities ship Gourko, given by coincidence by sailors of Royal Oak, and had overstayed only because the show had overrun.[85]
- ^ Cordite, used for propelling the shells, was prone to explode if allowed to overheat. The Court of Enquiry convened to investigate the loss of Vanguard concluded that the explosion of a cordite charge, either unstable or carelessly placed, was a likely cause of the disaster.[86]
- ^ The portholes were not, in fact, fully open, but were covered with light excluders, designed to provide ventilation while maintaining blackout. Crucially, they were not watertight.[91]
- ^ The official death toll for Royal Oak has varied over the years owing to confusion over similar names, lost records, and delayed deaths. The currently accepted figure of 835 deaths was determined in 2019 after research by a team of local historians.[93]
- ^ Its wreck was not discovered until 2017.[97]
- ^ "My Path to Scapa Flow"
- ^ One U-47 crew member, Herbert Hermann, later took British citizenship.[129]
- ^ By 2019, the ship was thought to contain 248 tons of TNT equivalent of unexploded ordnance.[140]
Footnotes
- ^ Gardiner 1965, p. 87.
- ^ Warlow & Bush, p. 1.
- ^ Burt 1986, pp. 81, 271–272
- ^ Burt 1986, pp. 276, 281
- ^ Burt 2012, p. 156
- ^ Burt 1986, pp. 276, 282
- ^ Burt 1986, pp. 274–276
- ^ Raven & Roberts 1976, p. 33
- ^ Burt 1986, p. 276
- ^ Burt 1986, pp. 272–273, 276
- ^ Raven & Roberts 1976, p. 36
- ^ Burt 1986, p. 277
- ^ a b Raven & Roberts 1976, p. 44
- ^ Raven & Roberts 1976, pp. 44, 172–173
- ^ a b c Burt 1986, p. 282
- ^ a b Campbell 1980, p. 23
- ^ a b c Burt 2012, p. 163
- ^ Burt 1986, p. 284
- ^ Raven & Roberts 1976, pp. 172–173
- ^ Burt 1986, p. 285
- ^ Burt 1986, pp. 276–277
- ^ Colledge & Warlow 2006, pp. 300–301
- ^ Battle of Jutland: Order of Battle, Schlielauf, Bill, archived from the original on 14 December 2006, retrieved 22 February 2007
- ^ Tarrant 1995, pp. 62–64
- ^ Campbell 1998, p. 37
- ^ Campbell 1998, p. 146
- ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 152–157
- ^ Campbell 1998, p. 210
- ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 207–208
- ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 211–212
- ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 256, 274
- ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 309–310
- ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 346, 358
- ^ Massie 2003, pp. 682–684
- ^ Halpern 1995, pp. 418–420
- ^ Admiralty (1918), ADM156/90: Board of Enquiry into sinking of HMS Campania, HMSO
- ^ Herwig 1998, pp. 254–256
- ^ "Admiral's Oaths", Time, 9 April 1928, archived from the original on 3 March 2009, retrieved 29 December 2006
- ^ Glenton 1991, pp. 28–34
- ^ "Trial by Oaths", Time, 16 April 1928, archived from the original on 30 September 2007, retrieved 29 December 2006
- ^ Glenton 1991, pp. 177–183
- ^ Gardiner 1965, pp. 132–134
- ^ a b "Royal Oak", Time, 26 March 1928, archived from the original on 3 March 2009, retrieved 29 December 2006
- ^ Gardiner 1965, p. 176
- ^ a b "Questions for the First Lord of the Admiralty", Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 18 April 1928
- ^ Glenton 1991, p. 162
- ^ Gardiner 1965, p. 226
- ^ "No. 33523". The London Gazette. 6 August 1929. p. 5145.
- ^ Gardiner 1965, pp. 236–238
- ^ "No. 33706". The London Gazette. 10 April 1931. p. 2332.
- ^ Glenton 1991, p. 1
- ^ "Erwin Schulhoff", exil-archiv (in German), Else Lasker-Schüler-Foundation, archived from the original on 18 October 2007, retrieved 3 September 2009
- ^ a b Admiralty, ADM53/105583: Ship's Log: HMS Royal Oak, February 1937, HMSO
- ^ "Incident near Gibraltar", The Scotsman, 4 February 1937
- ^ Bombing Attack on HMS Royal Oak, Attacks on HM Ships August 1936 – September 1937, HMSO, 1937
- ^ "Shell falls on the Royal Oak", The Scotsman, 25 February 1937
- ^ "Shell hurts five on ship", The Washington Post, 24 February 1937
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- ^ "Late Queen Maud", The Scotsman, 24 November 1938
- ^ a b McKee 1959, p. 17
- ^ Taylor 2008, p. 45
- ^ a b c d McKee 1959, pp. 23–24
- ^ a b Weaver 1980, pp. 29–30
- ^ Sarkar 2010, p. 49
- ^ Miller 2000, p. 15
- ^ a b c d e Admiralty 1939
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: U 18". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- ^ a b Miller 2000, p. 51
- ^ Miller2000, pp. 24–25
- ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: UB 116". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
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- ^ a b c d e Dönitz 1959, pp. 67–69
- ^ a b c d e Kriegsmarine 1939
- ^ Snyder 1976, p. 86
- ^ Prien 1969, p. 152
- ^ a b Weaver 1980, "Chapter 3: The Car on the Shore"
- ^ Weaver 1980, p. 101
- ^ Snyder 1976, p. 91
- ^ a b Snyder 1976, p. 95
- ^ Vanguard's Casualties + Survivors, Great War Document Archive, archived from the original on 6 March 2017, retrieved 1 January 2008
- ^ Snyder 1976, p. 101
- ^ Smith 1989, pp. 84–85
- ^ McKee 1959, p. 39
- ^ McKee 1959, p. 42
- ^ Weaver 1980, p. 118
- ^ a b Weaver 1980, pp. 60–61
- ^ Snyder 1976, p. 115
- ^ Snyder 1976, p. 121
- ^ "Images reveal extent of HMS Royal Oak torpedo attack", BBC News, BBC News Scotland, 14 October 2019, retrieved 17 October 2019
- ^ a b Taylor 2008, pp. 96–97
- ^ Weaver 1980, "Chapter 5: 'Daisy, Daisy"
- ^ Snyder 1976, pp. 135–139
- ^ a b Stickland, Katy (12 October 2017). "Missing HMS Royal Oak steam pinnace discovered". Yachting and Boating World. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ^ "Royal Navy's Loss", The Scotsman, 16 October 1939
- ^ Admiralty, ADM53/110029: Ship's Log: HMS Pegasus, October 1939, HMSO
- ^ "Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood", Supplement to London Gazette, 1 January 1940
- ^ McKee1959, "Dedication"
- ^ Weaver 1980, p. 58
- ^ Weaver 1980, p. 56
- ^ "U-Boat Warfare", Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 17 October 1939
- ^ Weaver 1980, pp. 112–128
- ^ "Boys (Active Service)", Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 25 October 1939, archived from the original on 5 July 2009, retrieved 14 October 2009
- ^ Smith 1989, pp. 89–95
- ^ "German claims", The Scotsman, 17 October 1939
- ^ Two Broadcasts by Hans Fritzsche, archived from the original on 11 December 2006, retrieved 1 January 2007
- ^ a b c Snyder 1976, pp. 179–180
- ISBN 978-1-84176-641-6.
- ^ Weaver 1980, pp. 133–134
- ^ Weaver 1980, "Chapter 10: The Neger in the Woodpile"
- ^ McKee 1959, "Chapter 13: Such Exaggerations and Inaccuracies ..."
- ^ Weaver 1980, p. 77
- ^ Weaver 1980, p. 120
- ^ Weaver 1980, p. 123
- ^ "The Churchill Barriers", Burray, archived from the original on 2 May 2006, retrieved 3 February 2007
- ^ Weaver 1980, p. 104
- ^ a b c Hayward 2003, pp. 30–31
- ^ a b McKee 1959, "Chapter 14: The Watchmaker who never was"
- ^ Knobelspiesse, A. V. (1996), Masterman Revisited, Center for the Study of Intelligence, archived from the original on 13 June 2007, retrieved 9 February 2012
- ^ Snyder 1976, p. 174
- ^ Pforzheimer, Walter (1987), "Literature on Intelligence" (PDF), Proc. 31st Annual Military Librarians' Workshop, Defense Intelligence Agency: 23–37, archived (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2012, retrieved 10 June 2007
- ^ Taylor 2008, p. 90
- ^ Sarkar 2010, pp. 75–76
- ^ Snyder 1976, p. 203
- ^ Sarkar 2010, p. 130
- ^ a b Sarkar 2010, pp. 208–209
- ^ Sarkar 2010, pp. 87–88
- ^ Alison Shaw (23 June 2015). "Obituary: Kenneth Toop, survivor of HMS Royal Oak". The Scotsman. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ Taylor, Craig (15 December 2016). "Only the memories are left". The Orcadian.
- ^ Wrecks designated as Military Remains, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, archived from the original on 19 February 2012, retrieved 27 December 2006
- ^ Sarkar 2010, p. 138
- ^ Remembrance Day: Royal Oak's Royal Navy standard replaced by divers, BBC, 8 November 2013, retrieved 4 February 2020
- ^ Memorial to HMS Royal Oak, St Magnus Cathedral, archived from the original on 2 February 2007, retrieved 27 December 2006
- ^ "Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Archived from the original on 27 June 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ Smith 1989, p. 104
- ^ a b c Hill, Polly (22 May 2019). Managing the Wreck of HMS Royal Oak (PDF). Spillcon 2019. Perth. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
- ^ Arlidge, John (18 February 2001), "New battle engulfs Royal Oak", The Observer, archived from the original on 18 August 2016, retrieved 17 December 2016
- ^ Snyder 1976, p. 210
- ^ "HMS Royal Oak plans delayed by a year", The Orcadian, 23–29 April 2001, archived from the original on 15 December 2006
- ^ a b c "Technology gives new view of HMS Royal Oak" (PDF), DLO News, Defence Logistics Organisation, August 2006, archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2012
- ^ Rowland, C., Fishing With Sound: An Aesthetic Approach to Visualising Our Maritime Heritage (PDF), archived (PDF) from the original on 6 October 2014, retrieved 9 April 2012
- ^ Watson, Jeremy (24 September 2006), "Picture perfect: the fallen Oak", The Scotsman on Sunday
- ^ a b Royal Oak Oil Removal Programme, Briggs Marine, archived from the original on 3 January 2014, retrieved 27 January 2012
- ^ "New images reveal sunken Royal Oak battleship". BBC. 1 February 2019. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
References
- Admiralty (1939), ADM199/158: Board of Enquiry into Sinking of HMS Royal Oak, HM Stationery Office
- Burt, R. A. (2012), British Battleships, 1919–1939 (2nd ed.), Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, ISBN 978-1-59114-052-8
- Burt, R. A. (1986), British Battleships of World War One, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-863-8
- Campbell, John (1998), Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting, London: Conway Maritime Press, ISBN 978-1-55821-759-1
- Campbell, N.J.M. (1980). "Great Britain". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. New York: Mayflower Books. pp. 2–85. ISBN 0-8317-0303-2.
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8
- ISBN 0-306-80764-5
- Gardiner, Leslie (1965). The Royal Oak Courts Martial. Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons. OCLC 794019632.
- Glenton, Robert (1991), The Royal Oak Affair: The Saga of Admiral Collard and Bandmaster Barnacle, Leo Cooper, ISBN 0-85052-266-8
- Gretton, Peter (1984), The Forgotten Factor: The Naval Aspects of the Spanish Civil War, Oxford University Press
- ISBN 1-55750-352-4.
- Hayward, James (2003), Myths and Legends of the Second World War, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-3875-7
- ISBN 978-1-57392-286-9
- Kriegsmarine (1939), Log of the U-47, reproduced in Snyder and Weaver
- ISBN 978-0-679-45671-1.
- Miller, James (2000), Scapa: Britain's Famous War-time Naval Base, England: Birlinn, ISBN 1-84158-005-8
- McKee, Alexander (1959), Black Saturday: The Royal Oak Tragedy at Scapa Flow, England: Cerberus, ISBN 1-84145-045-6
- Prien, Günther (1969), Mein Weg nach Scapa Flow, Translated into English by Georges Vatine as I Sank the Royal Oak, Wingate-Baker, ISBN 0-09-305060-7
- Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1976), British Battleships of World War Two: The Development and Technical History of the Royal Navy's Battleship and Battlecruisers from 1911 to 1946, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, ISBN 0-87021-817-4
- Sarkar, Dilip (2010), Hearts of Oak: The Human Tragedy of HMS Royal Oak, Amberley, ISBN 978-1-84868-944-2
- ISBN 0-907618-20-0
- Snyder, Gerald (1976), The Royal Oak Disaster, Presidio Press, ISBN 0-89141-063-5
- Tarrant, V. E. (1995), Jutland: The German Perspective, London: Cassell Military Paperbacks, ISBN 0-304-35848-7
- Taylor, David (2008), Last Dawn: The Royal Oak Tragedy at Scapa Flow, Argyll, ISBN 978-1-906134-13-6
- Warlow, B. & Bush, S. (2021). Pendant Numbers of the Royal Navy: A Complete History. Seaforth. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-5267-9378-2.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - Weaver, H. J. (1980), Nightmare at Scapa Flow: The Truth About the Sinking of HMS Royal Oak, England: Cressrelles, ISBN 0-85956-025-2
Further reading
- Kriegsmarine. "Report on Sinking of Royal Oak". uboatarchive.net. British Admiralty Naval Intelligence Division translation 24/T 16/45. Archived from the original on 3 January 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
- ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
External links
- hmsroyaloak.co.uk Website dedicated to the ship and its crew
- Royal Oak details and hydrographic report (in French, German and Dutch)
- Maritimequest photo gallery
- HMS Royal Oak at naval-history.net
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Bull of Scapa Flow". German U-boats of WWII – uboat.net.
- Animation of wreck
- Part transcript of ADM 199/158 Board of Enquiry in National Archives
- IWM interview with survivor Howard Instance
- IWM interview with survivor John Hall
- IWM interview with survivor Herbert Pocock
- Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project: HMS Royal Oak crew list