Lockett Graham23/02/2010

As a Royal Navy diving club the Naval Air Command Sub Aqua Club (NACSAC) had permission to dive on the wreck of HMS Royal Oak during the two week period of their annual diving expedition in 1987. The twelve divers of the team each got to dive the wreck about 8 times.

The ship capsized as she sank and now lies almost upside down in 33m. The deck lies at an angle of about 20 - 30 degrees to the seabed, the up-turned hull being only 12m beneath the surface. As the weight of the wreck rests on the superstructure the bows are a good 3m clear of the seabed, with the anchor chains hanging down in big loops. As you proceed aft, every single porthole remains in place! These are a massive 18 – 20” in diameter, some open, others closed and some with their deadlight down, looking in one port-hole near the officers galley the dinner plates can still be seen stacked in the drying racks. At “A” and “B” turret the massive turret lids have fallen off and lie on the seabed, all the components are therefore visable within the turrets, voice pipes, complete with spring-loaded covers, the huge breeches to the 15” guns and big brass wheels etc. The guns have unfortunately swivelled and now lie underneath the wreck. Further aft the superstructure, including the spotting top lies broken on the seabed, with the steam pinnace crushed underneath. Higher up the 6” row of guns of the secondary armament are pointing outwards as if waiting to go into action, the multi-barrelled pom-poms also are easy to spot. Continuing aft along a row of portholes you come to “X” and “Y” turret, again with their lids displaced and lying on the seabed, the turret fittings looking as intact as the forward ones. From the quarterdeck, where the wood remains intact, you can swim around to the lower hull where there is the only sign of any salvage work. The props are missing, taken off by the RN in the 1950s, the shafts however remain. On another dive we looked at the massive torpedo holes on the port side, seeing the size of these it is obvious why she sank so quickly.

This is no doubt a fantastic dive, despite this, after a dive there never seemed to be any elation expressed by the divers, with the loss of so many lives when she sank and with the wreck being so intact it is a very thought provoking experience, generally there was little “chatter” in the boats on the way back to Scapa pier, the normally exuberant divers being lost in their own thoughts

ref. used:

[1]  Lockett Graham [2]  Nacsac