General view of engine house, battery observation post and gun emplacement.

Description General view of engine house, battery observation post and gun emplacement.

Date 28/5/1996

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number C 73274 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 672615

Scope and Content World War II engine room and battery, East Breckan or Clett Battery, Holm, Mainland, Orkney Islands In both World Wars coast batteries were built to protect the channels into Scapa Flow and Kirkwall Bay, where there was an important contraband control. The greatest concentrations of firepower were at the main north-western and southern entrances to the Flow, but Kirk or Holm Sound, the deepest and fastest flowing of the eastern channels also required special protection which this battery at East Breckan was intended to provide. This was the channel through which a German U-boat entered Scapa Flow and sank HMS Royal Oak in October 1939 when the battery lay un-manned. This shows the masonry-built end wall of the engine room with its later wide entrance doorway and concrete slab coping stones. It stands at a distance from the twin six-pounder battery, to which the electricity power cables were ducted underground. Most batteries, including this one, had a reserve engine room placed, in case of attack, at an even greater distance from the gun battery. At the heart of the Orkney archipelago, Scapa Flow was the main fleet anchorage for the Royal Navy during both World Wars. Its vital importance led to the creation of one of the most concentrated defence networks in Britain. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Colour negative

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