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Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. Surrounded by the islands The Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy, it is best known as the site of the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Second world wars.
Following the German defeat in the First World War, seventy-four ships of the German High Seas Fleet were held in Scapa Flow. They arrived in November 1918, after the Armistice, and soon became something of a tourist attraction. In June 1919 Rear Admiral von Reuter, the German Officer in command at Scapa Flow, after waiting for the bulk to the British fleet to leave on exercises, gave the order to scuttle the ships to prevent them falling into British hands. Eight of the wrecks are still in Scapa Flow, and are a popular target for divers.
Already used by war ships in the Viking era, the base remained in use by the Royal navy until 1956. During both World Wars, German submarines succeeded in sinking British ships in Scapa Flow.
In Cockney rhyming slang, the word Scarper, meaning to run away, derives from Scapa Flow rhyming with "go".