Salvage Sites

During the 1920s and 1930s the majority of the scuttled ships of the German High Seas Fleet were raised. It was one of the largest maritime salvage operations in history. Of the 52 ships that sank, only 7 remain beneath the waters of Scapa Flow.

The initial salvaging operations began as early as 1919 and concentrated on the removal of many of the blockships. This was to allow the Holm and Burray piers, as well as the herring stations, to be used again. The first successful salvage operations on the German High Seas Fleet came in 1922 and were led by Jack Moar from the Orkney Island of Hoy. He started with the destroyer G89.

The salvage operations stepped up a gear over the next decade with Cox and Danks Ltd raising a total of 32 ships for the valuable steel in their hulls. Most of the salvage work pre-dated WWII but some operations continued until 1979. Seven ships were never raised and today these provide some of the best wreck diving the world has to offer.