Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow, a vast, natural harbour in the Orkney Islands, served as the Royal Navy's main base during the two world wars, from where ships sailed to the Battle of Jutland in the First and in convoy to northern Russia in the Second. Thousands of men and women saw service in and around this remote anchorage, including soldiers and sailors who crewed the ships and manned the lonely batteries, and Wrens, nurses and civilians who were posted there.

Scapa Flow brings together their memories – the bleak isolation, its implacable winds and glorious sunsets, the camaraderie and good humour – forming a compelling portrait of a unique war station that left its mark on all who served there.



MALCOLM BROWN was for many years a BBC documentary producer; in 1966 he co-produced with Patricia Meehan the highly successful film Scapa Flow, which led to the publication of this book. Since 1989 he has been a freelance historian at the Imperial War Museum, and is now best known for his books on military subjects, including Tommy Goes to War and a number of IWM books about the First World War. PATRICIA MEEHAN spent several years as a welfare worker in post-war Germany. She began a long career in television in the USA before joining the BBC, where she became a producer specialising in contemporary history. Upon leaving the BBC she became a writer. Her books The Unnecessary War and A Strange Enemy People deal with aspects of British and German relations before and immediately after the Second World War.



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'A story which for a long time has been crying out to be told and which could not have been put across with more verve and understanding.'