A BATTLESHIP sunk 55 years ago in Scapa Flow is posing a serious
danger of pollution.
It is feared that oil escaping from HMS Royal Oak, torpedoed by the
German submarine U-47 in October 1939, could kill thousands of seabirds.
The hull is starting to break up, with the possibility that tanks
could burst releasing hundreds of tons of oil.
Royal Navy divers are inspecting the Royal Oak, an official war grave.
She went down with the loss of 831 men.
David Mitchell, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said
yesterday: ''This has come as complete news to me. I hadn't appreciated
there was now a slick two or three miles long from the wreck.
''If there was a sudden rupture, you could be talking about major
pollution and the loss of seabirds -- divers, auks, and sea ducks.''
Mr Mitchell added that the situation highlighted the problem of vast
quantities of highly toxic waste, including mustard gas, that was dumped
off Northern Ireland and the west coast of Scotland after the Second
World War.
A spokesman for Orkney Islands Council said: ''The hull is now in a
dangerous condition and it could go almost any time.''
Every October, a Remembrance service is held above the wreck and a
White Ensign replaced on the ship's superstructure during the annual
inspection.
Diving on the Royal Oak, in 27 metres of water, is banned to everyone
but the Royal Navy. It was during the last inspection that the hull was
found to be disintegrating.
When the Royal Oak went down, she was carrying about 3500 tons of
fuel. ''The spot where the ship went down can be seen from the air
because of the oily sheen on the surface,'' said the council spokesman.
Salvage teams are considering pumping the oil out of the tanks to a
barge before safe disposal.
The technique was used on a German wreck lying in 90 metres of water
off the Norwegian coast last year.
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