The Royal Naval cemetery at Lyness, Hoy, was started in 1915. Scapa Flow was the base for the Grand Fleet, and it remained as a Royal Naval Base until 1948.
One hundred years ago, Tuesday 29 September 1925, the Naval War Memorial was unveiled in the cemetery. Today, the Lyness Commonwealth War Graves cemetery contains graves from both World Wars.
There are 445 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 109 of which are unidentified. The majority of the graves are of officers, ratings, and members of the land forces lost from H.M.S. “Hampshire,” “Vanguard,” “Narborough” and “Opal.”
The Naval War Memorial unveiled in 1925 cost £1,750 ( approximately £72,000 today). The Orkney Herald described it in their report :
“It takes the form of a large granite cross, and is set upon three heavy bases forming steps, the whole erection rising to a height of 24 feet 6 inches. on the front centre of the cross is a large sword, which represents Justice, and on the upper base, below the foot of the cross, is inscribed the words : – To the honoured memory of those sailors and soldiers who gave their lives for their country in the Great War (1914 – 1918). On the second or middle base on the front four squares are the words: – ‘Their names liveth forecer’. ” – Orkney Herald 30 September 1925.
The 1914 – 15 war was known as The Great War. No one, having experienced the carnage and massive loss of lives, imagined that within their lifetimes, the rise of Fascism across Europe would result in another world conflict, even greater.
The memorial was unveiled by Sir William Watson Cheyne, in his role as the Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland.
[image Elliott & Fry, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons]
In his remarks he was reminded that “the real grave of the sailor in war is at sea, and that few of the sailors who lost their lives during the war have any resting place on land.”
Speaking of Scapa Flow he said:
” This great inland sea could shelter the largest fleet in the world from the storms which so often sweep over these regions… At the same time Scapa Flow commands strategically all the northern passages between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and by reason of this command of the sea the Navy was enabled to give the nation sufficient time to organise her other forces.”
The loss of the men’s lives he commented was ‘irreparable’ for their families, as well as for the ‘nation.’ His closing remarks reflected that their deaths should not be in vain but for ‘peace, happiness, contentment, and prosperity.’
There are 200 burials from the Second World War in the cemetery including those of 26 men from H.M.S. “Royal Oak”, which was sunk in Scapa Flow by a German U-boat on 14 October 1939. 8 of these burials are unidentified.
The cemetery also contains the graves of 14 sailors of the German Navy (the High Seas Fleet was interned at Scapa Flow after the 1918 Armistice), 3 German airmen and 1 German sailor from the 1939-45 war and 1 Norwegian sailor of the 1939-45 war. The Commission also maintains 30 non-war burials in the site (mostly Merchant Navy seaman).
Fiona Grahame