DEFENDING THE FLEET

摘要

When hostilities broke out in September 1939 the Royal Navy's (RN) main base for the Home Fleet became Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland - one of the world's great natural harbours - just as it had in World War One. From there the vessels were able to deliver strategic effect by restricting access for German surface raiders to the Atlantic. That this remote outpost was a key target for the enemy was dramatically shown when the U-boat U-47 sank the battleship HMS Royal Oak in the harbour on October 14,1939. Three days later four Junkers Ju 88As of Stab 1./ KG 30 led by Hptm Fritz Doench and 13 Heinkel He 111s of 1./KG 26 attacked the anchorage. Although anti-aircraft fire shot down Oblt Walter Flaming's Ju 88, the old battleship HMS Iron Duke moored as a harbour defence ship was badly damaged by several near misses, its boiler room and two magazines being flooded. The ship developed a significant list and had to be beached at Ore Bay to avoid sinking. These losses -combined with the lack of fighter protection and direction-finding radio - resulted in the temporary abandonment of Scapa Flow and a reduction of activity in the far north but produced a tactical result for the Germans, for this was anything but a 'Phoney War'. Work to rectify the deficiencies continued through the harshest winter for 50 years. Despite this, the Luftwaffe maintained interest in the area including on November 23, when Heinkels of FAG 122 flew recces of the Scapa Flow and Shetland bases prior to the breakout of German battleships into the Atlantic.