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Scapa Flow 2017 survey by the Sea War Museum Jutland
Date January 2017
Event ID 1172644
Category Recording
Type Multi Beam Sonar Scan
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1172644
Multibeam sonar survey recorded the battleship Sms Markgraf.
The only battleship wreck pointing to the west (the others point northwest), like the others Markgraf lies upside down, with a list to port. Like Konig, there is debris on the ship’s starboard side, from the extensive salvage operations around the engine room and armoured belt, and from degradation over time. Markgraf is the most intact of the battleship wrecks but the bow appears broken in the area where the 17cm-thick forward armoured bulkhead was removed along with the forward torpedo tube.
Diver video inspection (date uncertain) recorded many notable features of the wreck. At the bow, a section of 15cm thick armoured plating protecting the middle deck is now close to the seabed, indicating that the bow is buried to the middle deck. Salvage activity in this area has apparently caused less collateral damage than on the other battleship wrecks, perhaps due to different salvage practices. At seabed level amidships on the starboard side, doorways at two locations enable inspection into the interior of the wreck, including a compartment containing geared machinery. A gap at seabed level affords a glimpse underneath the wreck, to the armoured wall of ‘B’ turret. The graceful, curved stern and impressive upright twin rudders are dominant features at this section of the wreck. An armoured spotting and control top lies off the wreck on its starboard side.
Comparing the wreck today with historic hydrographic data indicates Markgraf has probably sunk further into the seabed. Observable changes to the wreck by comparing multibeam sonar data from 2017 with data by ADUS in 2006 are limited to the apparent collapse of the port-side bilge keel.
I.McCartney 2019
