ORKNEY ISLANDS, SCOTLAND—Live Science reports that marine archaeologists led by Sandra Henry of the Orkney Research Center for Archaeology used a multi-beam echo sounder and underwater robots to map ten naval shipwrecks at the bottom of Scapa Flow, a body of water sheltered by five of the Orkney Islands. The project is intended to help researchers track the condition of the wreck sites. “It's quite important for us to understand their current condition and how they’re deteriorating over time,” Henry explained. The entire German fleet was scuttled in Scapa Flow at the end of World War I by a German commander who wanted to prevent the ships from being seized under the Treaty of Versailles. Most of the 52 wrecks were salvaged—only seven of the vessels, and some parts of others, remain underwater. The British ships in the study include the HMS Vanguard and HMS Hampshire, which sank during World War I, and HMS Royal Oak, which sank during World War II. All three are protected war graves. To read in-depth about underwater archaeology at Pearl Harbor, go to “December 7, 1941.”
