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World War One Audit of Surviving Remains
Date 25 September 2013
Event ID 964692
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type World War One Audit of Surviving Remains
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/964692
The final decision to make Scapa Flow the main base for the Grand Fleet in the event of war (over the Invergordon dockyard in the Firth of Cromarty) was made only on the eve of war. As a consequence, in August 1914, the anchorage was undefended. It was only in mid-1915 that the anchorage was secured by guns, anti-submarine booms and blockships. In the end there were 13 batteries around the approaches to Scapa Flow.
The southern entrance to Scapa Flow, through Hoxa Sound to the east of Flotta, was the main one, and the busiest. The smaller entrance, to the west of Flotta, was also used, and was protected by an anti-submarine boom, with covering guns. The Innan Neb battery was positioned on the northern side of the channel.
The battery was equipped with two 4.7-inch Quick Firing guns, intended to engage smaller, fatser-moving vesels than the 6-inch guns covering Hoxa Sound. It was also provided with three Defence Electric Lights, powerful searchlights to illuminate targets for the guns at night.
The battery position was re-used in the Second World War, but new gun emplacements were built, leaving the First World War structures untouched.
Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 25 September 2013.
