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Their were five battleships in this class
built for the British Royal Navy, the
others being Royal
Sovereign, Revenge,
Resolution and Ramilles.
These battleships were an improved
version of the previous and more famous
Queen Elizabeth class. Royal Oak
and Revenge were involved in the
Battle of Jutland in 1916 with both
receiving no damage. All ships saw little
action during the remainder of WWI as the
German fleet rarely left port after
Jutland. Also, the British Admiralty kept
their largest warships in safe ports,
they were only to be used in large
battles as they were seen to be too
valuable to be lost to mines or
submarines.
In the first few weeks of World War
Two, Germany planned a daring raid by
submarine on Britain's main warship base
at Scapa Flow. With the war in its early
days and the defenses around Scapa Flow
incomplete, U-47 managed to
enter the flow undetected October 13th
1939. Luckily for the British, their
modern warships had been relocated to
Loch Ewe on the west coast of Scotland a
few days earlier.
Moored to the west of Scapa Flow near
Lyness were a few supply ships and the
old battleship Iron Duke
serving as the bases headquarters. The
aging seaplane carrier Pegasus and
Royal Oak with her
considerable anti aircraft guns were
moored near Netherbutton to provide air
cover for the radar station.
U-47 picked Royal
Oak as her target and fired three
torpedoes, one of which hit the
battleships bow. Royal
Oak’s crew of around 1200
were unaware they were under attack at
that time, as they thought the explosion
had occurred onboard the ship. This gave
U-47 time to reload and
fire another three torpedoes. With all
three hitting Royal Oak,
she turned on her side and sank within 15
minutes. U-47 made her
escape while survivors were being
rescued. Although Royal Oak
sank in only 90 feet of water, she has
been allowed to remain undisturbed to
serve as a memorial for the 833
crewmembers lost with the ship. The other
ships in this class survived the war only
to be scrapped between 1948 and 1949.
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