New Scapa Flow Museum set to open its doors

The new Scapa Flow Museum in Orkney will officially open to the public on Saturday 2 July, five years after it closed its doors for a major refurbishment project.

The museum has undergone a £4.4m transformation and now features a brand new exhibition space and café facility, as well as a full restoration of the old pumphouse, built to transfer oil to and from waiting Royal Navy ships berthed in Scapa Flow during the Second World War.

The new museum has more than 250 artefacts and objects on display showcasing the story of Scapa Flow and its role in both World Wars. They tell the tales of major sea confrontations, including the Battle of Jutland, the devastating loss of Royal Navy ships and their men, and the heroic salvage of the scuttled German High Seas Fleet in the Flow after the end of the First World War.

New additions include a virtual reality display, audio-visuals focused on the history of Scapa Flow and its modern-day role in Orkney, and a new digital 3D exhibit that helps visitors explore the Flow’s wreck sites.

See more from Orkney:

[Off-The-X]

Thank you for preserving this history. Greetings from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

[thomascazalis]

Visited that fantastic historical museum last week, could not have expected a better place than the quiet town of Lyness to host it.
Thank you so much.

[Ed-hzum]

A wonderful historical museum. We were a bit early for the reopening, but we'll have to visit it next time we're over. Ellen, it was a terrific surprise to meet up with an unknown cousin of Shelley's! We both enjoyed it very much.

[mazzdacon]

I am visiting Orkney In October to see the birthplace Stromness, of my great grandfather John Beatton who left for Australia in 1851. Nice video.

[shortfork]

Hi I hope to be over in May next year my Father was With force H on the KGV as a Royal Marine.

[markjohnson]

My father served on the USS Crosby, DD 164/APD 17 before and during WW2. The Crosby was a "Wickes Class" destroyer, the kind that the US transferred to the British under Lend/Lease. I assume that those ships were at Scapa Flow at one time or another. I have a porthole from the Crosby when she was converted to an APD and I'm trying to find a picture of something like it.

[michaelellis]

I will be up in 2025,
My dad cpo hms rodney, hms pique, shipped out 1 day before hms royal oak sunk.