Emily Turton is a technical diver, dive boat owner and skipper of MV Huskyan, and lecturer in Maritime Studies based in Orkney, Scotland.

Emily has dedicated the last 15 years to the wrecks of Scapa Flow and continues to champion the WWI German Fleet Wrecks. The HMS Royal Oak is just one of the historical surveys Emily and her team have completed, however it is one of the most special.

Opening image:
HMS Royal Oak was sunk by torpedo attack in Scapa Flow with the loss of 835 men and boys. The 80th anniversary Royal Oak White Ensign flies over her. We will remember them. Photograph by Marjo Tynkkynen

HMS Royal Oak - 80 Years Underwater

In October 2019 HMS ROYAL OAK will have been underwater for 80 years. - torpedoed by U47 on the night of October 13, 1939 inside the British Naval anchorage of Scapa Flow. The loss of the ship & 834 of her crew in the early in WWII was catastrophic. As a direct result the Churchill Barriers were built to block the Eastern Approaches to Scapa Flow. HMS ROYAL OAK – the protected war grave has a large profile both in and out with Orkney, she is the most intact dreadnought battleship in existence today yet little underwater imagery of the ship existed until now.

A great video with many of the images Emily talks about can be found HERE: 
For more information go to: https://www.huskyan.com/diving/hms-royal-oak  or http://www.scapaflowwrecks.com/wrecks/royal-oak/wreck.php

HMS Royal Oak

HMS Royal Oak turret spotting

HMS Royal Oak - multibeam

HMS Royal Oak torpedoes

HMS Royal Oak 80 Years Survey Logo