HMS Royal Oak (08)

Royal Oak at anchor in 1937
History
United Kingdom
Name	Royal Oak
Builder	Devonport Royal Dockyard
Cost	£2,468,269
Laid down	15 January 1914
Launched	17 November 1914
Commissioned	1 May 1916
Identification	Pennant number: 08[2]
Nickname(s)	Mighty Oak[1]
Fate	Sunk by U-47, 14 October 1939
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Revenge-class battleship
Displacement	29,970 long tons (30,450 t) 31,130 long tons (31,630 t) (Deep load)
Length	620 ft 7 in (189.2 m)
Beam	88 ft 6 in (27 m)
Draught	33 ft 7 in (10.2 m) (Deep load)
Installed power	18 Yarrow boilers 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 Shafts; 2 steam turbine sets
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Range	7,000 nmi (12,960 km; 8,060 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Crew	909
Armament	4 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns 14 × single 6 in (152 mm) guns 2 × single 3 in (76 mm) AA guns 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Waterline belt: 13 in (330 mm) Deck: 1–4 in (25–102 mm) Barbettes: 6–10 in (152–254 mm) Gun turrets: 11–13 in (279–330 mm) Conning tower: 3–11 in (76–279 mm) Bulkheads: 6 in (152 mm)

HMS Royal Oak was one of five Revenge-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Completed in 1916, the ship first saw combat at the Battle of Jutland as part of the Grand Fleet. In peacetime, she served in the Atlantic, Home and Mediterranean fleets, more than once coming under accidental attack. Royal Oak drew worldwide attention in 1928 when her senior officers were controversially court-martialled, an event that brought considerable embarrassment to what was then the world's largest navy. Attempts to modernise Royal Oak throughout her 25-year career could not fix her fundamental lack of speed and, by the start of the Second World War, she was no longer suitable for front-line duty.

On 14 October 1939, Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland, when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-47. Of Royal Oak's complement of 1,234 men and boys, 835 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. The loss of the outdated ship—the first of five Royal Navy battleships and battlecruisers sunk in the Second World War—did little to affect the numerical superiority enjoyed by the British navy and its Allies, but it had a considerable effect on wartime morale. The raid made an immediate celebrity and war hero of the U-boat commander, Günther Prien, who became the first German submarine officer to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Before the sinking of Royal Oak, the Royal Navy had considered the naval base at Scapa Flow impregnable to submarine attack, but U-47's raid demonstrated that the German navy was capable of bringing the war to British home waters. The shock resulted in rapid changes to dockland security and the construction of the Churchill Barriers around Scapa Flow, with the added advantage of being topped by roads running between the islands.

The wreck of Royal Oak, a designated war grave, lies almost upside down in 100 feet (30 m) of water with her hull 16 feet (4.9 m) beneath the surface. In an annual ceremony marking the loss of the ship, Royal Navy divers place a White Ensign underwater at her stern. Unauthorised divers are prohibited from approaching the wreck under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.