HMS Royal Oak: Recording the Memorial’s Story

A film of Fran Flett Hollinrake’s talk on the history of the HMS Royal Oak memorial in St Magnus Cathedral, commissioned by the Friends.

about this project

Remembering HMS Royal Oak

On the night of 14 October 1939, HMS Royal Oak was torpedoed by a German U-boat while at anchor in Scapa Flow. More than 800 men and boys lost their lives. Their memorial in St Magnus Cathedral, with the ship’s bell recovered from the wreck, is one of the most visited places in the building.

The Cathedral Curator, Fran Flett Hollinrake, has researched the history of the memorial: how it came to be in the Cathedral, and how it has grown over the years. She first presented her findings to the Council of the Friends, and in April 2025 the Society invited her to give the talk to members and the public in the Friends Room at the St Magnus Centre: In Some Sort of Quietude: the Memorial to HMS Royal Oak in St Magnus Cathedral.

The Friends commissioned a film of the talk, so that the history of the memorial, and of the Royal Oak’s place in the Cathedral, is kept for the future and can be watched by anyone, wherever they are.

HMS Royal Oak: a talk by Fran Flett Hollinrake, Cathedral Curator

The film is published on Orkney Islands Council’s YouTube channel.