1939 Attack on Scapa Flow

In the early months of WWII, during the period called the “Phoney War”, or by the Germans, the sitzkrieg, the combatants were not completely inactive. One of the most shocking attacks by Germany in this period took place in the very harbor used as the base for the British Home Fleet.

This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.

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Script by JCG

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[ronkluwe]

I believe I have a unique tie to Scapa Flow, although never having visited it. My grandfather earned his Iron Cross for helping scuttle his ship in 1919 when the German fleet scuttled at Scapa Flow and we still have the jackstaff flag from his ship. My father earned his first Iron Cross as part of the Luftwaffe flight crew that took the reconnaissance photos showing the potential entry into Scapa Flow. He was a radioman on the plane at the time and eventually became a Ju-88 and Ju-188 reconnaissance pilot and a squadron commander, earning multiple medals for his work, but also earning 3 months in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp after the attempted assassination of Hitler when one of his squadron mates reported him to the Gestapo for remarks he had made about Hitler (my father's family was not supportive of Hitler and had tried to get my father and his cousin to the U.S. prior to start of the war in September, 1939). He was offered two options after 3 months of interrogation and imprisonment. Option 1 was to be shot at dawn. Option 2 was to be returned to his squadron, but reduced in rank from Captain to highest NCO level, not be allowed to be pilot in command on any flights, and to fly night missions in Italy for the rest of the war (which was about 50% fatality rate at the time). He chose option 2, was shot down 3 times subsequently (we have photos of one shoot down aftermath), lost the tip of his left little finger due to a .30 caliber bullet coming through the cockpit glass, and kept his crew members alive. One thing he told us of that time was that although the plane had to take off with him in the co-pilot's seat, he and the pilot would switch seats immediately after becoming airborne as his crew knew he was the best pilot and would keep them alive. He was allowed to immigrate from Germany in 1952, along with his sister and a Lutheran minister and they were among the first group of German emigres from Hamburg to the U.S. He ended up in Detroit where his uncle had a tool and die shop and by 1964 he and his partners had a shop with 200 employees and my father was the president of the Detroit tool and die association. He was also one of the first Detroit area tool and die shop owners to hire African-American employees as tool and die machinists and always told my brothers and I that it was the quality of work a man created, not what color his skin was. He never went back to Germany as he had many bad memories of the war and immediate post war period although he always enjoyed talking to other pilots from WW2. One of the more interesting events that occurred later in his life was when my brother graduated from U.S. Navy pilot training. One of the Navy traditions is that if your father was a military pilot, he could pin his wings on his son as part of the induction ceremony. You could have heard a pin drop in the room when my dad pinned his Luftwaffe reconnaissance pilot's wings on my brother's chest and afterwards every pilot in the room, both newly minted and veteran fathers, wanted to talk with him about his experiences. He passed away in 1988 and we have his logbook, medals, and many photos from his time in the war.

[Paraffinmeister]

I've seen the wreck of the Oak a few times, however the most poignant was in October 2010 from a small boat owned by my great uncle. It was a flat calm day and he positioned the boat over the wreck and told all of us to look over the side. It took a few seconds to make things out, but there she was, clear as day, there was her bilge keel pointing up towards us, several holes in her side with the ribs poking through and further down, her secondary armaments were just visible. For about a minute we slowly drifted along her from a point roughly amidships towards her stern (the propellor shaft and rudder eventually coming in to view) before sailing off again. A remarkably and quite haunting experience.

Worthy of mention is the fact that my great uncle had lived in a house overlooking the wreck site his entire life and remembered going to bed one night with the Oak outside his window and waking up to nothing other than an oil slick the next morning. The boat was also worthy of mention, being a steam launch he had built himself out of scrap, the hull having started life as a German Navy pinnace from WWI, the engine being salvaged from a White steam car, the boiler being made from offcuts of pipe from the oil terminal on the island of Flotta and the condenser being made from salvaged parts of HMS Vanguard's condenser.

[BillySugger]

My brother and I visited Scapa Flow in 2019, quite a moving experience. A bleak and inhospitable place with a superb guided history walk around the old naval base. During the wars, thousands of navy personnel were based here, a truly enormous base. Only fragmentary elements remain, but well worth seeing with a guide. And the Churchill barriers are highly evident, supporting roads between the various islands.

[brentgranger]

Some extra exposition about U-47 on this episode:

1. Ka-Leu Prien was called the “Bull of Scapa Flow” (as mentioned in the video). On their return to Germany, U-47’s crew painted a snorting bull on the conning tower to commemorate the feat. It would eventually become the symbol of the 7th Uboat flotilla.

1. U-47 did not immediately attack upon arrival at Scapa Flow. It waited outside the harbor for several days waiting for the ideal conditions to enter the harbor. It sat on the bottom during the day and surfaced at night to charge batteries.

3. U-47’s attack may have changed the course of WW2. Germany had only 39 uboats in September, 1939. The attack was meant as an attempt to get more funding for uboat production since German naval doctrine was still centered around surface units. What began as 39 uboats eventually exploded to 1, 162 by the war’s end. It can be argued that had this attack failed, then Hitler might have given more funding to surface ships instead of the more effective uboats.

4. A torpedo that was found in Scapa Flow in 2016 is believed to be one of U-47’s missed torpedoes.

5. The failure of the first 2 attacks is most likely due to poorly designed torpedoes. Gunther Prien and many other uboat commanders (and the Americans years later) complained of defective torpedoes. U-47 attacked another British battleship, HMS Warspite, during the invasion of Norway. The torpedoes were so awful that Prien refused to fire another torpedo at a convoy later that day. He would declare to Admiral Doenitz that he might as well have been fighting with “wooden rifles.”

[O-sa-car]

that's crappy that the Admiral who asked for better defenses ended up being the scapegoat

[delbhoy]

My dad was at Scapa Flow when attack happened. He was Merchant Navy and only sixteen. He was on Warwick Castle, a troop ship, when it was torpedoed in 1942 returning from Operation Torch.

[zobblewobble]

4:35 The Trawler attacking and capturing a U-Boat has got to be the most impressive act of fishing of all time. They truly caught “the Big One”.

[walterdavis]

I don't remember his last name. But his fist name was Hans. At 13 or 15 he was a Belgium farmer when the Germans stornmed through in ww1. His village was wiped out and became a battle front. He fought the war in the trenches . After the war he went back to farming and married and had children . Again in ww2 the Germans came through and flatten the village . This time he got to gge coast and I belive was evacuated at Dunkirk. He didn't want to go back to ghe trenches so he signed onto a ship . By the end if the war he had been on 7 ships that had been sunk . Signing onto who ever pulled him out . The last ship was an America navel ship and he joined the American navy . Put in 20 years, became a citizen retired and went to sea as a merchant marine . He married a woman from New Jersey and had a few kids. At some point he was falling apart his wife had died and he retired . I met him in irvington new jersey a burrow of Newark. He told me his stories as I worked on an agecent apartment . He was around 80 . I'm sure there is an obituary in the Newark star Leger news paper . I met him in 1988 .

[coling]

coming from a RN family, my grandfather and uncle were KIA in ww2, its a fact of life that in wars the navy suffer some horrendous casualties in one day, if a major ship goes down. large crews and the sheer inhospility of the waters. jumping over the side in itself was hazardous - men wearing lifejackets were apt to break their neck if they didn't know the drill .. head down, knees up ... and the chill factor in sea is frightening. 5 minutes in the water and you're prob a goner.. the North Sea is highly dangerous at any time of year.

[alanmountain]

I am British but I can't help but acknowledge the bravery and skill of Prien and his men. The story would make a great movie. Lastly RIP and respect to all those lost on the Royal Oak

[briannicholas]

Another well done episode.
The loss of HMS Royal Oak, while at the time was a very prominent event, it's sinking by and large became lost in history as the war and its subsequent horrors grew.
The loss of so many boys deeply affected the British people, they were presumed to be safe on a huge battleship. The saddest fact is that WWII would see the deaths of innumerable children.
It is good that you have taken time to remember those boys and men.
In this season of peace and goodwill, I offer my sincerest best wishes to mrs History guy, the History guy felines and you.

[kencattell]

I learnt of this whist on a scuba diving holiday at Scala flow. An increasable bit of navigation and nerve by U47. Whilst there I visited the war graves at the cemetery on Hoy. By the remembrance book at the entrance, a large wreathe paying tribute and honouring the fallen seamen of the Royal Oak. A purple banner across it proclaimed in gold letters who had left the tribute, the U47 sailors association. Such respect.

[drawkicks]

Watching this as I'm looking out my bedroom window over Scapa Flow, it's a beautiful place with so much history! If you ever make it up here to the edge of the world History Guy the Orcadian ale's one me!

Also another fascinating story that came out of Orkney is the history of the Italian Chapel, built by Italian POWs who built the Churchill barriers. It's made out of an old bomb shelter with a chandelier constructed out of old cans and it even has a fresco painted by one of the Italians, he even stayed after the war to finish it and kept coming back to Orkney for many years until his passing. It's certainly history that deserves to be remembered!

[mickeyfilmer]

As a former Royal Navy veteran - I really appreciate your videos on RN history . Thank you Sir, I salute you on behalf of fallen fellow servicemen of all our armed forces -especially the Royal Navy!

[tonyb]

One of the more interesting facts is that in 1917 HMS Vanguard blew up in Scapa Flow, one of its crew, a Midshipman, Reginald Frederick Nicholls was a part of its crew, 22 years later he was the Executive Officer aboard HMS Royal Oak, which was sunk only a few hundred yards from where HMS Vanguard lies.

The fact that HMS Royal Oak was (along with all the Revenge class Battleships), deemed obsolete by the start of WW2, it was a tragic loss of life that was really only figured out several days later when they discovered the torpedo damage.
Even now, HMS Royal Oak still spills a little of her oil into the sea.

[NickRatnieks]

Many years ago there was a documentary on the sinking of the Royal Oak and many survivors were interviewed. One of the underlying problems with the ship was that it appeared not to be a "happy ship" and there were undercurrents in terms of its cohesive operation and this may have had a bearing on the events that ensued after the ship was torpedoed as the crew might not have been as tuned to the events as they might have been on another ship with a well drilled crew. .

[SammyM]

I'm about to head to my first job this morning, but before I watch I just want to say, I play a mission named "Attack on Scapa Flow" in a game called U-boat. So I'm really excited lol

[TheRealBrook]

Never knew about the "boy seamen". Heartbreaking.

[wscottwatson]

The Churchill barriers have made Orkney much bigger than it must have felt before the war. They are probably worth an episode along with the Italians who built them and the Italian Chapel that they built and is still there.

[tylerburton]

That slow pan in that twisted along an axis as you described the ship beginning to take water.... *chef's kiss*