SMS König

A battleship on its back. SMS König was a German dreadnought battleship interned at Scapa Flow after the First World War and scuttled with the rest of the High Seas Fleet in June 1919. One of only three German battleships still lying in the Flow, she rests almost completely upside down on the cold Orkney seabed, a giant of a wreck for advanced divers.

Massive armour and guns. Though inverted and partly salvaged, the König is unmistakably a capital ship, her huge armoured hull, gun barbettes and structure looming out of the gloom. Exploring her means reading a battleship from beneath, tracing the vast bulk that once carried heavy naval artillery into the Battle of Jutland.

Deep and cold. The wreck lies at around 40 metres in cold, frequently dark water, placing it firmly in the technical and experienced-Advanced range. Drysuit diving, redundant gas, good buoyancy and careful decompression planning are essential, and the inverted, collapsing structure demands respect and a cautious approach.

Anemone-clad steel. Plumose anemones and cold-water life carpet the exposed metal, softening the scale of the wreck. As a protected historic site the König is dived, not disturbed, from Stromness-based hardboats. Trips run mainly from late spring through early autumn, when daylight is longest and Orkney's seas are at their calmest.