A stretch of sea in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. In May 1919 the terms of the Versailles Peace Settlement were submitted to the Germans, who protested vigorously. As an act of defiance, orders were given under Admiral von Reuter to scuttle and sink the entire German High Seas Fleet, then interned at Scapa Flow. In October 1939 the defences of Scapa Flow were penetrated when a German U-boat sank HMS Royal Oak. The naval base was closed in 1957 but the anchorage at Flotta at the southern entrance to Scapa Flow became the centre of the oil industry in Orkney.