View of Scapa Flow Visitor Centre from North East

Description View of Scapa Flow Visitor Centre from North East

Date 4/10/1996

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

Catalogue Number SC 656629

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 3126 CN

Scope and Content World War I pumping station, 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, above-ground oil storage tanks and, beneath the nearby hill of Wee Fea, six very large underground fuel tanks. The solitary surviving above-ground tank at Lyness was one of four of 12,000-ton capacity built in 1917 when oil-fired warships were coming into regular service with the Royal Navy. In 1937-8, with another war looming, Messrs Balfour, Beatty & Co Ltd were contracted by the Admiralty to build 12 additional, slightly larger, 15,000-ton tanks, bringing the total complement of above-ground tanks to 16. The associated pumping station, which also dates from 1917, drew the heavy fuel oil from tankers at the pier. Originally coal-fired, the steam pumps were converted to diesel power in 1936, and pumping station and tank together now form the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre. This is the front of the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre, a group of restored sheds converted from an oil pumping station first established on this site in 1917. It stands within a protective, earth-banked enclosure and the forecourt is now used for the display of wartime artefacts, prominent among which are a pair of marine mines flanking the path. 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/656629

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap