Scapa 1919 by Innes McCartney

Author:Innes McCartney
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472828958
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 12.8. The casemates on the upper deck housed 5.9-inch guns. The armour aft of ‘D’ turret has fallen out and is on the seabed. Further inwards and upwards, a 5.9-inch gun can still be seen clinging to the deck to which it was mounted – but for how much longer?

The extreme angle of lean on this wreck means that the actual upper deck where the 5.9-inch guns were mounted is elevated above the level of the seabed by around 4 metres (see Figure 12.15 later in this chapter). It took a dive in better visibility to spot one of these guns in the same area when looking up from the seabed. This gun can be seen in Images C and D of Figure 12.8. It was something of a surprise and a little unnerving to see this immensely heavy gun, still retaining its shield and resolutely clinging to the deck to which it was mounted. The stresses on the bolts holding it to the 3cm-thick upper deck must be immense. Of course, inevitably it must fall off as the wreck continues to degrade. Visiting divers would be well advised to treat objects such as this with considerable caution. It is difficult to imagine any scheduled monument on land still being open to the public with such an obvious potential danger to life being present.

Moving further forward, another feature is the cigar mast and control top as shown in Figure 12.9. The mast itself is now quite rotten, with much of the outer skin gone, as seen in Images A and D. In Image D the ladder used to climb into the top can be clearly seen. The top itself has lost its roof, as shown in Image B, which also shows the slightly triangular design of the top. This structure was solidly made, being splinter proof. There was also a lower platform, as shown in Image C, marking it as a different design to the other two battleship wrecks. Time has not treated the lower platform kindly and it is now very corroded. Nevertheless, the frames and the solid base still survive.

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