48 – Raising the capital ships – Metal Industries

Cox retired in 1932. His business was taken over by the Rosyth-based shipbreakers that had started life as the Alloa Shipbreaking Company, and eventually became Metal Industries, under the chairmanships of Robert Mc Crone. He hired all of Cox’s men, and purchased new equipment.

He raised a total of six ships – Bayern in 1934, König Albert in 1935, Kaiserin in 1936, Friedrich der Grosse in 1937 Grosser Kurfurst in 1938 and Derfflinger in 1939.

The sunken ships were subdivided into multiple internal sections. Each section was accessed from the surface through a long tube with an airlock at each end.
The air pressure in each individual sections was adjusted to trim the ship as the raise began.

As time progressed, each recovery was reaching into deeper water.

By the time Kaiserin was salvaged in 1936, the airlock tubes were almost 30 metres long, supported by spiders’ webs of cables.

The tubes were shortened before each vessel was towed south to Rosyth.

As the ships rose the external water pressure reduced. The compressed air expanded to displace more and more water which propelled the ships ever faster to arrive at the surface in a welter of foam and spray.

König Albert being raised in 1935.

König Albert on the surface in Scapa Flow and being dismantled in dry dock in Rosyth
 
The last ship to be raised was Derfflinger. In July 1939 she was successfully raised to the surface, and then was towed a short way and anchored behind Risa Island.

And there she remained for the next seven years, with a maintenance crew living in a hut on her upturned hull keeping her stable. World War II had broken out, so Rosyth was not available. At the end of the war, Rosyth was still not available, so Metal Industries bought an Admiralty-surplus 40-year-old floating dock, and used it to break up Derfflinger at Faslane in the River Clyde.

Derfflinger in her floating dry dock at Faslane in the Clyde

More details

You can view more information about raising the scuttled ships including links to on-line video clips HERE.