View of engine house from North West

Description View of engine house from North West

Catalogue Number SC 670737

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 73080 CN

Scope and Content World War II engine room, Ness Battery, Stromness, 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 southern and north-western entrances to the Flow, the latter covered by a series of coast batteries centred, in World War II, on Ness Battery at Stromness. Standing at a distance from the rest of the battery, this detached engine room housed the diesel generators which produced the essential electricity power supply for Ness Battery. What now appear as blocked-up windows were originally openings which framed and helped in the cooling of the projecting radiator 'snouts' of the diesel engines within. Slit ventilators around the wall-head also assisted in the dispersal of the fumes. In the foreground is a concrete 'cradle' in which oil drums were laid and emptied into the concrete-encased fuel tank beneath. 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/670737

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap