Archaeology Notes

Event ID 828744

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/828744

ND39NW 8042 3124 9597

N58 50.7 W3 11.5

NLO: Gutter Sound [name centred ND 316 968]

Mill Bay [name centred ND 307 955]

Stromness [name: HY 253 090]

Scapa Flow [name centred HY 36 00].

Formerly entered as ND39NW 8828.

For general plan of major High Seas Fleet wrecks in Scapa Flow, see Smith 1989, 4.

For adjacent and associated salvage (lifting) barge (YC21), see ND39NW 8043.

(Noted as 'broken up': no location cited, but illustrated).

J C Taylor 1966.

F2. The wreck lies in about 15 metres, approximately 100 yards SE of the wreck of the barge YC21.

[Includes illustrations of transits for locating F2].

Source: Butland & Siedlecki, BAC Wreck Register, Scotland 1 (1987).

[Transits illustrated by Ridley].

G Ridley 1992.

(Classified as escort vessel: date of loss cited as 30 December 1946). F-2: this vessel sank at moorings in Gutter Sound.

Registration: German. Built 1934. 756 tons displacement. Length: 81m. Beam: 10m.

(Location of loss cited as N58 50.77 W3 11.50).

I G Whittaker 1998.

Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):

A814 3 bronze taps: from seabed.

NMRS, MS/829/34.

Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):

A1382 bunker cover: from seabed.

NMRS, MS/829/35.

Length: 249.1 ft (75.9m) on construction: increased to 262ft (80m) in 1938/9.

Beam: 28.9ft (8.8m)

Draught: 10.6ft (3.2m): also cited as 8ft 3ins (2.5m)

Displacement: 790 tons (cited [improbably] as reduced to 756 tons in 1938/9; also cited as 712 tons, with increase to 740 tons in 1938/9)

Propulsion: oil-fired; 2 sets of geared Brown-Boveri steam turbines; 2 shafts; 14,000 shp; 28 kts (26kts after 1938/9 rebuilding)

Radius of action: 1500 miles at 20 kts

Guns: 2 x 105mm deck mountings; 4 x 37mm AA (removed in 1938/9); 4 x 20mm AA

Complement: 121

This vessel was built by Germaniawerft (also cited as Germania Werft) at Kiel and completed in 1936 as a Geleiteboot ('escort boat', 'escort vessel', 'sloop' or 'corvette'); she was the second unit built of a class of 10. The design was essentially experimental, having high pressure boilers which proved problematic; they were also poor seaboats. Probably in consequence of these limitations, she was lengthened by 13 ft (4m) forward and converted to a torpedo recovery vessel at Wilhelmshaven in 1938/9.

The ship was handed over in reparation to Britain at the end of the Second World War but foundered at her moorings on 30 December 1946, having evidently sprung a leak. She was not considered worthy of salvage until 1967 or 1968, when she was sold for scrap to Messrs. Metrec Engineering. The wooden barge alongside her [YC21, for which see ND39NW 8043] was full of salvaged pieces from the F2, when this sunk itself on 15 November 1968. No salvage operations have been carried out on either wreck since.

The F2 lies at a (seabed) depth of 16m below High Water, and is buoyed as it reaches 7m below the surface. The wreck is frequently visited by recreational divers. The hull has been broken in half; the stern remains upright but the forward portion lies on its port side. Recognisable features and fittings include the forward gun and the starboard anchor cable (which leads out from the bow); the single mast lies flat on the seabed and the searchlight is recognisable.

This vessel and its associated salvage barge are presumably the features that are charted as [Wks] with a clearance of 1.5m in a charted general depth of about 13m, immediately SW of a can buoy. They are situated just off Mill Bay and to the N of Lyness. The seabed is evidently variable in nature, a variety of types being noted nearby.

Gutter Sound [name centred ND 316 968] may be understood as a narrow sheltered passage between the islands of Hoy, Fara and Rysa Little, to the W of the broad expanse of Scapa Flow. It has a level seabed at a charted depth of between 13 and 16m; the seabed type is indicated sparingly but is apparently a mixture of gravel, shingle and sand. Apart from the specifically-indicated wrecks, extensive areas of foul and spoil ground and numerous obstructions attest to the former presence of the High Seas Fleet. Wrecks (Wk or Wks) are noted at N58 50.3 W3 11.3 [ND 314 951], N58 50.75 [ND 310 959] and around N58 50.7 W3 11.5 [HY 312 958], the latter annotation having a buoy immediately to the W. Areas of foul ground are charted around N58 49.7 W3 10.5 [ND 321 939], N58 50.05 W3 10.9 [ND 317 946] and N58 51.l3 W3 10.7 [ND 320 969].

[For photograph in service, see Macdonald 1990, 101 and Macdonald 1998, 106; for underwater artist's impression, see Macdonald 1998, 107].

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 16 January 2003.

J C Taylor 1966; W D G Blundell 1972; D M Ferguson 1985; D M Ferguson 1988; P L Smith 1989; R Macdonald 1990; R Macdonald 1998.

HO Chart 35 (1980, revised 1991).