Phantom of Scapa Flow

On the night of 13/14 October 1939, the German commander of U-boat U-47, Günther Prien, steered past the sunken block ships and chains which inadequately protected the British naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. The U-Boat sank the old British World War I battleship HMS Royal Oak and then escaped into the North Sea. The loss of the Royal Oak was insignificant in naval terms though over...