HMS Royal Oak (08)
Coordinates: 58°55′51″N 2°59′00″W / 58.93083°N 2.9833333°W / 58.93083; -2.9833333 (HMS Royal Oak)
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Devonport Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 15 January 1914 |
| Launched: | 17 November 1914 |
| Commissioned: | 1 May 1916 |
| Nickname: | The Mighty Oak |
| Fate: | Sunk on 14 October 1939 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Revenge-class battleship |
| Displacement: | 29,150 tons standard 33,500 tons full load |
| Length: | 620½ ft (189 m) |
| Beam: | 88½ ft (27 m) as built 102 ft (31.1 m) after bulging |
| Draught: | 28½ ft (8.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 shaft Parsons geared turbines 18 Yarrow boilers 40,000 shp (30 MW) |
| Speed: | 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Range: | 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) |
| Complement: | 1,009 to 1,244 (peacetime) |
| Armament: | 4 × twin BL 15-inch MK I guns 12 × single 6-inch (150 mm) MK XII guns 4 × 2 4-inch (102 mm) guns 2 × 8 QF 2-pdr (40 mm) anti-aircraft guns 4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Armour: | 13 inch belt 6 inch upper belt 10 inch barbettes 13 inch turret faces 4¼ inch turret crowns |
HMS Royal Oak (pennant number 08) was a Revenge-class battleship of the British Royal Navy. Launched in 1914 and completed in 1916, Royal Oak first saw action at the Battle of Jutland. In peacetime, she served in the Atlantic, Home and Mediterranean fleets, more than once coming under accidental attack. The ship drew worldwide attention in 1928 when her senior officers were controversially court-martialled. Attempts to modernise Royal Oak throughout her 25-year career could not fix her fundamental lack of speed, and by the start of the Second World War, she was no longer suited to front-line duty.
On 14 October 1939, Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland, when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-47, commanded by Günther Prien. Of Royal Oak's complement of 1,234 men and boys, 833 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. The loss of the old ship – the first of the five Royal Navy battleships and battle cruisers sunk in the Second World War – had little to affect the numerical superiority enjoyed by the British navy and its Allies. But sinking had considerable effect on wartime morale, especially in Royal Navy. The raid made an immediate celebrity and war hero out of the U-boat commander, Günther Prien, who became the first submarine officer in the German Kriegsmarine to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The rest of the U47's crew were each awarded the regular Iron Cross. Before the sinking of the Royal Oak, the Royal Navy had considered the naval base at Scapa Flow inpregnable to submarine attack. But the U47's raid had demonstrated that the Germans were capable of bringing the naval war to the British home waters. The shock resulted in rapid changes to dockland security and the construction of the Churchill Barriers around Scapa Flow.
To this day the Royal Oak, which is a designated war grave, lies almost upside down in 100 feet (30 m) of water with her hull 16 feet (4.9 m) beneath the surface. In an annual ceremony to mark the loss of the ship, Royal Navy divers place a White Ensign underwater at her stern. Unauthorised divers are prohibited from approaching the wreck at any time under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
Read more about HMS Royal Oak (08): Construction, Aftermath