New this season at Scapa Flow Museum

A number of new exhibits awaits visitors to the recently redeveloped Scapa Flow Museum which reopened today, Thursday 2 March, for the 2023 season.

This includes the much anticipated display of three rare naval guns, thanks to funding from Orkney Islands Council and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, examples of new acquisitions kindly donated to the Museum since it reopened last July, and stunning models of HMS Royal Oak and hardy salvage tug Seefalke.

Scapa Flow Museum sits on the shores of Scapa Flow - home to the Royal Navy’s fleet in WWI and II and the stage of the dramatic scuttling of the German fleet, interned after the First World War – still considered to be the world’s biggest loss of shipping in a single day.

The Museum holds three of only five First World War German naval guns surviving above water in the UK, and one of these - from German destroyer B98 - is now out of storage, professionally cleaned and carefully installed in the Museum’s main gallery.

This rare naval gun was loaned to The National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) in Portsmouth in 2015 to be part of the UK’s main exhibition there telling the story of the Battle of Jutland, the pivotal maritime conflict of WWI.

As part of that loan arrangement, the NMRN carried out extensive conservation work on the gun before it was returned to Orkney following Jutland commemorations.

It was then stored in the Museum’s Romney hut as plans got underway for the museum’s redevelopment. It’s had a further professional clean and treatment of surface corrosion over this winter and is now available for viewing in the Museum’s main gallery.

B98 was the leader of the 2nd Flotilla of the German High Seas Fleet at Jutland. After the Armistice, it was used as a mailboat, and it was the chief means of contact between Germany and the interned fleet in Scapa Flow. The ship arrived in Orkney on the day of the scuttle, was interned by the British and later went aground during salvage operations in the Bay of Lopness in Sanday, where parts of B98 can still be seen – the base plates of the hull survive, along with boilers and turbine casings.

Also now on display at Scapa Flow Museum are a gun barrel recovered from the wreck site of the ill-fated HMS Opal and HMS Narborough. The artefact from HMS Opal was also loaned to NMRN for Jutland commemorations, benefitting from conservation work while there – both guns have been moved out of storage and into the main gallery.

HMS Opal took part in the Battle of Jutland as part of the 12th Flotilla. In January 1918, while on a Dark Night Patrol in severe weather and with poor visibility, an unfortunate navigational error caused HMS Opal and sister ship HMS Narborough to sail straight into the cliffs at Hesta Rock on South Ronaldsay. Both ships were wrecked with 188 casualties and only one survivor.

The final and third gun to return to display is from the deck of German WWI warship SMS Bremse. The impressive Bremse gun stood in the museums forecourt for many years prior to the Museum’s redevelopment, was moved from storage recently and transported south for restoration by Ian Clark. It returned in February and has been carefully installed in the Museum’s spacious Romney hut, which was itself restored during the Museum’s redevelopment. The Romney hut will open later in the spring, when the Museum has its full seasonal staffing in place.

Now also greeting visitors is a stunning 1.5m (five feet) model of HMS Royal Oak. It took local model builder Paul Tyer around a year to build, for a private individual, who kindly loaned it for commemoration events in 2019 marking 80 years since the disaster, and subsequently offered for private sale. It was secured by the Council’s Museums team thanks to support from the National Fund for Acquisitions.

The model of HMS Royal Oak is joined by another model, of ‘Seefalke’ - a salvage tug used in the salvage of the scuttled German fleet. The model was made by Andrew Kelday, a rigger at Lyness working for Cox and Danks Ltd during the salvage of the German Fleet in the 1920s. He was helped by a ship's carpenter, Mr Skinner. Andrew passed the model to his brother Robert when he moved to Shetland. The model has kindly been donated to the museum by Robert's son, Bob Kelday. Seefalke was sunk in Kiel, Germany during WWII, and subsequently salvaged. Incredibly, it is still afloat – and on display in Bremerhaven, Germany, at the German Maritime Museum.

The New Acquisitions display showcases smaller objects that have been donated to the Museum recently – from a model of a destroyer made by a Marine stationed in Scapa Flow and gifted to a local boy, to toys fashioned from lead, and a handkerchief signed by Royal Oak survivors.

Nick Hewitt is the Council’s Team Manager for Culture: “We’re really excited to have the naval guns back on display, and grateful to the Council and The National Lottery Heritage Fund for their approval to use contingency funds from our redevelopment to carry out the extra conservation work and specialist moving required to get them exhibition-ready for the public to enjoy.

“The guns are much-loved by many in the local community here on Hoy and of huge significance internationally and so well worth a visit.

“We’re also really pleased to have a New Acquisitions display where we can showcase items kindly donated to us and tell the stories attached to them – we plan to occasionally refresh the display as more donations come in. Our thanks go to everyone who has kindly offered items to us – each donation has the potential to tell a brand new story about what it was like to experience wartime in Orkney.”

Pictured here are the model of the Royal Oak, the B98 gun and the new acquisitions display case.

The Museum is open from 9.30am to 4.15pm Thursday to Saturday in March, Monday to Saturday in April, then every day May-September. Admission is free.

A café on site - run by Christine Bolton who locals will know from the popular Peedie Bite food van - sells hot and cold drinks, homebakes, hot filled rolls, soup and snacks during opening hours.

Full opening hours, contact details, and latest news can be found at www.orkney.gov.uk/scapaflow

The Scapa Flow Museum is run by Orkney Islands Council and charts Orkney’s military involvement in the First and Second World Wars. It provides a safe home for a major collection of wartime artefacts, many of national and international importance.

Its recent refurbishment project valued at of £4.4 million, comprising an extension to the Museum and refurbishment of the historicpumphouse, has been supported by Orkney Islands Council, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland, the Orkney LEADER 2014-2020 programme, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Museums Galleries Scotland and the Scottish Government’s European Regional Development Fund programme, managed by NatureScot through the Natural & Cultural Heritage Fund. (The Natural & Cultural Heritage Fund is part of the Scottish Government’s European Regional Development Fund programme, which finishes in 2023. NatureScot is also managing another element of the programme – the Green Infrastructure Fund. The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Regional Development Fund and the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit the Scottish Government website or follow @scotgovESIF.)

The Museum is a minute’s walk from the Lyness ferry terminal on the scenic island of Hoy, one of Orkney’s most popular tourist destinations. Hoy is a short ferry ride from Houton on the Orkney mainland. For ferry timetables and booking information visit www.orkneyferries.co.uk