Scapa Flow

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Scapa Flow, the Royal Navy's WWI/WWII home anchorage in Orkney, is the world's largest and most accessible scuttled fleet wreck site. On 21 June 1919 Rear-Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the interned German High Seas Fleet — 74 ships — to be scuttled to prevent Allied seizure under the Versailles terms. 52 went down (15 of 16 capital ships, 5 of 8 cruisers, 32 of 50 destroyers); most were salvaged in the 1920s–30s, but 7 major hulls remain divable: the battleships SMS König, SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm, and SMS Markgraf, and the light cruisers SMS Brummer, SMS Cöln, SMS Dresden, and SMS Karlsruhe. The wartime loss HMS Royal Oak (1939) is a designated war grave — no diving. Cold North Sea dive — drysuit and 7 mm hood/gloves mandatory. May–Sep gives the longest daylight and calmest weather; winter is short days, gales, and frequent cancellations. Liveaboard-style charters from Stromness or Houton.