N.A.A.F.I. hut remains, view from North.

Description N.A.A.F.I. hut remains, view from North.

Date 24/5/1996

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

Catalogue Number SC 673078

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 73240

Scope and Content Remains of World War II NAAFI hut, Rerwick Head Battery, Mainland, Orkney Islands In both World Wars coast batteries were built to protect the channels into Scapa Flow, the greatest concentrations of firepower being at the main north-western and southern entrances to the Flow. In World War II there were also seven coast batteries on the east coast of Orkney Mainland protecting the approaches to Kirkwall Bay, which served as an examination anchorage where foreign shipping was impounded and searched for contraband. These batteries formed the Kirkwall Fire Command centred on Rerwick Head Battery, which also included a shore station for a controlled minefield in Shapinsay Sound. These are the concrete foundations of the hut which served as the battery NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute). With entrances at each end, it would have been covered with a curved, Nissen-type steel superstructure and associated with a number of smaller ancillary huts. It contained the canteen and would have been used for social events by those stationed at the battery. Among the buildings on the distant horizon, close to the southern boundary of the battery precincts, are the Fire Command Exchange and the Fire Command Post itself. 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/673078

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap