Читать книгу Deeper into the Darkness онлайн
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The wreck is designated as a Controlled Site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2012 and no diving has been permitted on it or within 300 metres of it since 2002. With our survey under licence now completed, it is unlikely that another licence will be granted to survey the ship in the foreseeable future. I wonder what she will look like on the 200th anniversary of her sinking and how our 2016 results may be pored over then?
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St Vincent-class British dreadnought battleship Destroyed at anchor in Scapa Flow on 9 July 1917
On the evening of 9 July 1917, the British St Vincent-class battleship Vanguard lay at anchor in Scapa Flow, less than one nautical mile to the north of the island of Flotta. The Revenge-class battleship HMS Royal Oak lay at anchor nearby.
Without warning, at about 2320, a series of cataclysmic magazine explosions suddenly took place in Vanguard’s magazine. She sank immediately, and all but three of the 845 men aboard her at the time were killed. The loss of life was greater than either of Orkney’s other two famous war graves, HMS Hampshire lost in 1916 with 737 men, and the nearby Royal Oak, which would herself be lost in 1939 with 834 men.