Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow is a body of water in the <a href="/facts/Orkney/CDuLIPfu">Orkney Islands</a>, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of <a href="/facts/Orkney_Mainland/Q3g2TBXS">Mainland</a>, <a href="/facts/Graemsay/TgVel7PH">Graemsay</a>, <a href="/facts/Burray/24RrC9Qg">Burray</a>, <a href="/facts/South_Ronaldsay/cxRs759a">South Ronaldsay</a> and <a href="/facts/Hoy%2c_Orkney/wAMXRArL">Hoy</a>. Its sheltered waters have played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries. <a href="/facts/Vikings/d0WFeQ6f">Vikings</a> anchored their <a href="/facts/Longship/NLuXcbkm">longships</a> in Scapa Flow more than a thousand years ago. It was the United Kingdom's chief <a href="/facts/Navy/TwPq0TNP">naval</a> base during the <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">First</a> and <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">Second</a> World wars, but the facility was closed in 1956.
Since the <a href="/facts/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_at_Scapa_Flow/pSs8429M">scuttling of the German fleet</a> after <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a>, its wrecks and their marine habitats form an internationally acclaimed <a href="/facts/Underwater_diving/yhjLjF1H">diving location</a>.
Scapa Flow hosts an oil port, the <a href="/facts/Flotta_oil_terminal/LHpoXvcl">Flotta oil terminal</a>. In good weather, its <a href="/facts/Roadstead/JfTJuqwS">roadstead</a> (water of moderate conditions) allows ship-to-ship transfers of <a href="/facts/Petroleum/IQV0bHVd">crude oil</a> product. The world's first ship-to-ship transfer of <a href="/facts/Liquefied_natural_gas/HIm7BbAl">liquefied natural gas</a> (LNG) took place in Scapa Flow in 2007 transferring 132,000m³ of LNG. This occurred in 2007 by Excelerate Energy between the vessels Excalibur and Excelsior.

Scapa Flow open-in-new

Scapa Flow