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HMS Royal Oak by Peter Rowlands
HMS Royal Oak by Peter Rowlands
HMS Royal Oak is a video constructed from 60 years of footage, and its release is probably timely while war graves remain such a topical issue.
On Friday, 13 October 1939, at the start of World War Two, 833 men lost their lives when a U-boat penetrated the Royal Navy's Home Fleet anchorage in Scapa Flow and sank the Royal Oak, the only capital ship still at anchor.
This is a haunting tale of the ingenuity and bravery of the German submariners, and of inadequacy and lethargy as well as heroism on the British side, not forgetting the rescue skills of local seamen.
It is told chronologically, using archive footage and material shot by Peter Rowlands, one of the few civilian divers to have visited the wreck. And it is clearly aimed at a wider audience than divers alone.
We see how the Royal Oak came to be isolated in the first place, and hear haunting accounts from survivors of what it was like to be aboard the doomed vessel, along with unnerving recollections from the local diver who was first in the water the next morning.
There is underwater footage of the wreck but it is obviously neither a difficult nor a deep dive so there is no need to dwell on the diving procedures.
One of the most moving scenes is left until the end of the video, when the ashes of the 100-year-old widow of one of the dead are deposited in the wreck at 20m by her grandson.
She could be close to the remains of the man to whom she had stayed faithful for the remaining 60 years of her life.
The final credits list the names of the dead, drawing parallels with the more recent sinking of the Belgrano, another great vessel packed to the gunwales with young men, and which fell easy prey to a solitary submarine.
This video is a workmanlike, professional production, and worth viewing especially by anyone who might still be inclined to think it's justifiable to take 'a bit of non-ferrous' from ships that have gone down in disastrous circumstances. John Bantin |
HMS Royal Oak by Peter Rowlands (Ocean Optics 0208 3995709). VHS, 50min, £19.45
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