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Interior. N tunnel, view from entrance portal to N.

D 3168

Description Interior. N tunnel, view from entrance portal to N.

Date 30/5/1996

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

Catalogue Number D 3168

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 654610

Scope and Content South tunnel, World War II underground oil tanks, World War I and II Naval Base, Lyness, Hoy, Orkney Islands At Lyness on Hoy, close to the sounds which made up the main fleet anchorage, naval quarters, stores and an oil depot were established during World War I and were considerably developed in World War II to become the Base Headquarters, HMS Proserpine. The base came to include an extensive area for the repair of anti-submarine boom nets, 16 above-ground oil storage tanks and, beneath the nearby hill of Wee Fea, six very large underground fuel tanks which were capable of storing some 100,000 tons of oil. In 1937 the contract for building the underground tanks went to Sir William Arrol & Co Ltd and work continued through to 1943 when the project was aborted. The tanks were arranged in parallel under the hill with access tunnels on the northern and southern flanks, some 0.975km apart. Both the inlet and outlet pipes passed through the north tunnel, the south tunnel being used principally for maintenance. An additional pumping station, designed and built by Arrols in 1937, was necessary in order to pump the oil up to the tanks which were laid at an altitude of about 90m and some 1.86km west of the original pump house which stands close to sea level at Lyness. This is a view along the full 369m length of the south access tunnel. The intermediate lines in the walls and vaults show how the shuttered concrete has been erected in sectional 'lifts'. There are concrete inspection hatches in the floor, and in the north tunnel there are also traces of an intermediate brick-built blast wall which was removed after the war. 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/477235

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