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HMS Royal Oak was a Revenge-class battleship of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1914 and completed in 1916, Royal Oak first saw action at the Battle of Jutland. In peacetime, she served in the Atlantic, Home and Mediterranean fleets, more than once coming under accidental attack. The ship drew worldwide attention in 1928 when her senior officers were court-martialled. Attempts to modernise Royal Oak throughout a 25-year career could not fix her fundamental lack of speed, and by the start of the Second World War, she was no longer suited to front-line duty. On 14 October 1939, Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland, when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-47. The ship rolled and sank rapidly, taking with her 833 from a complement of 1,234. The loss of the obsolete vessel little affected the numerical superiority of the British navy and its allies, but had a considerable effect on wartime morale. The raid made an immediate celebrity and war hero out of the U-boat commander, Günther Prien, who became the first submarine officer in the German Kriegsmarine to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The wreck of Royal Oak is a protected war grave, and lies almost upside down in shallow water with her upturned hull just beneath the surface. In an annual ceremony to mark the loss of the ship, Royal Navy divers place a White Ensign underwater at her stern. (Full article...)