HMS Royal Oak now lies in 30 metres of water in Scapa Flow, almost upside down, with her upturned keel reaching to within just five metres of the surface. A wreck buoy marks her hazard to shipping.
She was built in the naval dockyards at Devonport, Plymouth during World War I and fitted with an awesome array of firepower, particularly her eight 15" guns - the largest guns ever fitted on a British Naval vessel. They each weighed 100 tonnes and were capable of firing 876-kilogram shells onto targets up to 29 kilometres away. Identical guns from her sister ships HMS Ramilles and HMS Resolution are on display outside the entrance to the Imperial War Museum in south London.
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