When the First World War broke out, German ports were blockaded by the Royal Navy with smaller units and mines sealing the English Channel and larger vessels deployed to Scapa Flow in Orkney, to prevent German ships using wider exists from the North of Sea. THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND (fought in the North Sea off the coast of Denmark) was the largest naval action of the First World War, with the Imperial German High Sea Fleet of 99 ships meeting the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet of 151 ships, commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. One of the few clashes of Dreadnought-era battleships in world history, it resulted in the greatest number of fatalities in a single day for either navy in their history. Today the battle is acknowledged as a significant contributor to the Armistice of 1918.

"Boreas domus, mare amicus” – “The North is our home, the sea is our friend"

Motto of the Orkney Islands