Scapa Flow: Salvage of the German Fleet

[tonclass]

Some Scapa pix and afterwards....All I have, but I thought interesting anyway !!

[tonclass]

Some Scapa pix and afterwards....All I have, but I thought interesting anyway !! 2

[historydavid]

Ton, is that an intentional error to check we are all awake?

Or has the Forth Bridge moved?

[tonclass]

I did specify ' & AFTERWARDS" !! These were the ships salvaged from Scapa and broken up in Rosyth etc !!

[tonclass]

Some Scapa pix and afterwards....All I have, but I thought interesting anyway !! 3

[tonclass]

Bloody site won't let me publish them as they appear to be already published, but no one can see them. To sort it I'll have to change the names of each one WHICH I CAN'T BE BOTHERED WITH !!

[astraltrader]

Rik - you dont need to alter the names - just marginally change the size!
Also I think you will find that Blucher was sunk at Dogger Bank in 1915;)
Some interesting pics though. Thanks for putting them up for us.

[tonclass]

Published them the first time but nothing appeared !! Tried to do them again but got fobbed off!!

Oh well - You live and learn !!

[ceylon220]

Some Scapa pix and afterwards....All I have, but I thought interesting anyway !!



Rik,

Whats the story of the one under the Forth Bridge,the one showing its keel?

[tonclass]

Raised and towed to Rosyth for breaking as there was much money to be made in scrap metal in those days.

[Batstiger]

We are back to Wolverhampton again Rik. This was the Great man who took the gamble and bought the wrecks of Scapa!

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/imageDetails?invocationType=imageDetails&query=ernest+frank+cox&img=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk%2 Fplaques%2FSEpics%2FCox1.jpg&site=&host=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk% 2Fplaques%2FDudleyRd2.htm&width=116&height=103&thumbUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fimages-partners-tbn.google.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AjKtzNS2WEmzBZM %3Awww.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk%2Fplaques%2FSEp ics%2FCox1.jpg&b=image%3Fquery%3Dernest%2520frank%2520cox

Cheers, Bob.

[Chris Howat]

The metal from the scuttled German ships is an excellent source of non radio active steel. There is probably more still there.
My father-in-law was there when the ships were scuttled and he had a few tales to tell. He was an RAF aircraftsman serving at the seaplane base.
I have photos of the Hindenburg being salvaged and will post there when I return from hols.

[mike d]

With regards to the Scapa Flow salvage pics.....Is there any possibility that the pic titled 'Scheer' is a WW 2 pic of the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer?
She was bombed and capsized while undergoing a refit at Kiel late in the war.
The dockyard building in the background seems to be badly damaged as if it had been bombed........................

[Seabadger]

Is there any possibility that the pic titled 'Scheer' is a WW 2 pic of the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer?

It is - I've seen that a few times before. From what I recall, the Scheer is apparently still there, covered in concrete.

[limeybiker]

"The Man Who Bought a Navy", is about Cox and Danks the scrap firm that bought the German Fleet, I read it many years ago whilst in the Pusser, but I am sure there are copies around, lots of photographs of the ships being towed to Rosyth upside down and the steaming crew living in sheds on the upturned hull.
The first thing Cox did was raise a tender by plugging all the orifices in the hull and filling the ship with compressed air, he then used the tender to dive on all the other battleships, they were floated into Rosyth Dry Docks upside down and cut up.
I read somewhere that with all the atomic radiation in the atmosphere, when the instrument makers need some clean steel, they dive at Scapa and bring some scrap up to use.

[John Odom]

I can't comment on steel from Scapa Flow, but Pre-Nuclear scrap steel from US Navy yards was in high demand. I have friends who built major installations shielded with it.

[astraltrader]

I have heard the same thing about the steel recovered from the ships in Scapa.

[SENIOR PILOT]

these pictures are of the molke and seydlitz on there way from scapa to rosyth for scrap

[nigelweysom]

some interesting pictures
Nigel

[jainso31]

A very nicely piece of naval history encapsulated in pictures-thank you for sharing them with us.

jainso31

[Teuchter]

Fantastic pics SP well done

[Batstiger]

Great set of pictures SP, many thanks for sharing them with us.

Bob.

[astraltrader]

Add my name to the list SP.:)

[Don Boyer]

Those are great photos; never seen any of the photos of the scuttling aftermath before, although I know salvage went on for years -- at least to 1946 when the Iron Dog was finally salvaged.

Towed off upside down and backwards -- what a said end for proud ships!

Thanks for the posts

[SENIOR PILOT]

here is the last of my scapa to rosyth pictures this time it is the hindenburgh the only one salvaged upright the last picture is curtesy of the scotsman newspaper which shows the final part arriving at wards scrap yard inverkiething

[Dreadnought]

A good thread here regarding the salvage of the German ships at Scapa Flow, with some more good pictures:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9933&highlight=Flow

[SENIOR PILOT]

have put some pictures of some of the ships in the german navy forum

[Dreadnought]

Here is the link to the thread to which SP refers:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9926

[SENIOR PILOT]

i saw that thread can to two threads be combined to make the one thread as they are both the same subject

[Dreadnought]

Threads merged as agreed.

Fabulous pictures by the way SP ...

[TCC]

I have heard the same thing about the steel recovered from the ships in Scapa.

Yes, but the same was true of VANGUARD armour. Bits of her remain as the walls of a "whole body counter" at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg Sweden. The whole body counter is used to measure very low amounts of radioactivity in patients

http://battleshiphmsvanguard.homestead.com/deathofabattleship.html


And whil I am here, here's some images of the ships pre 'gerzunked'