SCAPA FLOW

Hokitika Guardian, 20 September 1930, Page 6

SCAPA FLOW

AN EPIC OF SALVAGE,

(By Harvie Watt in Naval Journal)

Eleven years ago, on the 21st June, the world was startled to hear that'the ships of the- German High Seas Fleet, lying interned at Scapa Flow, had been scuttled by their crews. This act was in direct breach of the Treaty of Versailles, and incidentally deprived the Allied Powers of the spoils of victory. The scuttling of the German Fleet had evidently been a preconceived plan, for acting on the orders of Rear-Admiral van Reuter, the Commanding Officer, who considered that the surrender of the German Fleet to Britain was an act of lasting disgrace, all the sea-cocks of the entire seventy-four ships comprising the Fleet were opened simultaneousljy. Nearly fifty of these ships sank completely out of sight, while the remainder were either beached or saved in time from fate. This event marked the close of the long period of hostility and naval rivalry between the two Powers, and it gave Great Britain much-needed relief from a distastrous race in naval armaments.

For five years these ships remained on the floor of Scapa Flow. During that time they were subject to some peculiar transformations as a result of seaweed, silting sand, and other submarine vegetation. Lsilte in 1924, however, one of the greatest, if not the greatest salvage operations in history was begun. The firm to undertake this vast work was Messrs. Cox and Danks, Ltd., of Regent Street, and it makes the feat'even more outstanding when it is known that Mr Ernest Cox, the head of the firm—and, indeed, the firm itself—had no previous experience of work of this kind. For the privilege of embarking upon this enterprise Mr Cox had to pay the Admiralty some considerable sum of money.

The first .ship to be tackled was the Hindenbur£, once one of the largest ships in -tne German Fleet, which was then lying in a forest of seaweed, covered with innumerable barnacles and mussels, in Gutta Sound, her bridge and remaining funnel being above the water line even at high tide. Many salvage experts considered the task impossible, and were sceptical as to its successful issue. Undoubtedly it was a colossal undertaking, for the Hindenburg was the largest warship on which salvage had ever been attempted, and it took courage and determination of a remarkable kind to continue in the face of so many adverse conditions. After a very valiant attempt to raise this ship,. however, it was found that the existing tackle was inadequate, and,, that methods would have to be devised, before success could be achieved.

.i-Nevertheless, undaunted, the courageous salvors continue,d their work on other vessels of the sunken fleet and their efforts were soon rewarded, for some twenty-five German destroyers .of seven hundred '.and fifty tons each were raised and sold for breaking up purposes, and for use'in, the . smelting of iron and steel. The record time for' raising one of these destroyers was four days, while the average time worked out at about oiip ship'per [fortnight—a remarkable triumph for BrV tish engineering. The method of raising these destroyers was in theory simple enough, although in practice it was fraught with many difficulties. Huge floating docks were moored on ea'eh side of the wreck, then divers fixed powerful 9-inch steel wire cables at each end. ,The ship was lifted by man-handled Winches, just sufficiently to enable other cables to tee passed underneath it. By this means the destroyer was cradled'between the two docks, and as it was raised a few feet from the bottom, the dock with the ship in the centre was towed by powerful tugs to shallow water, where the water pumped out, air compressed it was lieachcd. It was then'patched up, into the hull, and refloated; It is interesting to note that both'off the floating clocks used throughout the salvage operations came from- Germany, while one of them at least, the smaller of the two, was constructed by the Gormans for the purpose of testing submarines in order to assist the German U-boat campaign against, allied and foreign shipping. These-docks were towed from Queen borough and the Medway respectively to Sea pa Flow—a distance of seven hundred mil,e.s — where they were cut up into sections and used to raise the ships of the German Fleet. The larger of the two docks was in six sections, and its overall length was as long as half of Regent Street, while it was capable of lifting forty thousand tons. Success with the smaller vessels encouraged further endeavours, and attention was next paid to the Moltko, which was lying in seventy-two feet of water,, with her entire superstructure a mass of crumpled wreckage, which had ultimately to ho cleared away by blasting. The raising of the Moltke, although a difficult task, proved successful, and at the end of May, 1925, she started on one of the most remarkable journeys of all times. This whale-like hulk, measuring six hundred and ten feet in length, was towed a distance of two hundred and fifty miles from Scapa Flow to Rosyth, where she was sold to, anti broken up by, the Alloa Ship Breaking Company. It was a wonderful piece of navigation, unique in the annals of the eea.

Other big ships were soon raised by similar methods, the two biggest (being the Seydlitz and the Kaiser. Each in turn followed the Moltke,

and was towed across the treacherous waters of the Pentland Firth down the east coast of Scotland to the Forth, where they, were likewise broken up and sold as scrap. The success obtained with these vessels, and the experience gained during the years 1924 to 1929, encouraged Messrs Cox and Danks to make yet another attempt to raise the Hindenburg. This gigantic ship has a displacement of twenty-seven thousand tons, am measures seven hundred teet in length and at the time when the first efforts were made to raise her, contained about fifty-six thousand tons of watei. Operations on the Hindenburg. had never quite ceased, and the di\eis were continuously occupied in closing any aperture which had sprung a leak. All apertures on the sides ot the ship up to the water-line had to be sealed up. Likewise, all vahes bad to dosed in order to make the hull of the ship watertight. When this was done' the water inside was pumped out, four docks being used, two on either side, to assist the operation. ,

On the attempt to raise the Hindenburg in June of this year, much disappointment was caused, for after raising the ship, • which was lying on an even keel, a few' feet, the bull developed a very bad list to starboaid. This had not keen anticipated, for it was considered that any list there might be woubl be to port, for that had been the experience during the previous attempts to raise the vessel. In consequence, large blocks of concrete, weighing .something like eight hundred tons altogether, were placed to prevent this anticipated list.. Now', however, similar. compensating; blocks of concrete have got to he placed on the starboard side, and it is hoped, and confidently expected, that these will meet the occasion. It will take some three or four weeks for this concrete to settle and harden, and the next, and probably the final attempt to raise the Hindenburg, wU be made in the middle of July.

In raising the Hindenburg, • and thus conquering the weight of the vessel, the, undergrowth of the sea, and the uncertainty •of the elements, the valiant salvor will have achieved the most remarkable undertaking of its kind that the world has ever seen. If she can be successfully brougjht to the surface and towed away for scrapping purposes, the back of this enormous task will have been broken. It will then only be a matter of time before the remaining ships , are similarly raised and disposed of, thus clearing the Sound at Scapa, and making it once again suitable, if the necessity arises, as a base for the Grand Fleet oif the British Navy.