In 1919, German crews sank 52 warships at Scotland's Scapa Flow; decades later...

1st and 2nd Battleship Squadrons and small cruisers, German High Seas Fleet, Keil. Fifty-two Imperial German warships sank in the icy waters off Orkney in June 1919 after their crews deliberately scuttled them to prevent their capture. Decades later, steel recovered from those wrecks became a valuable material for modern science, medical imaging, and space exploration. The story of Scapa Flow’s wrecks turning from naval waste into high-tech material began with the start of the atomic age. Steel made after the first nuclear bomb test in New Mexico in July 1945 contains tiny traces of radioactive isotopes from the atmosphere used during production. For normal construction, this radiation is harmless. But for equipment designed to detect extremely small amounts of radiation, even these tiny traces can create background noise and affect sensitive readings.The scuttling at Scapa FlowAfter the 11 November 1918 armistice ended First World War fighting, 74 ships of the Imperial German Navy’s High Seas Fleet were interned at the Royal Navy anchorage at Scapa Flow. The fleet remained there for months while Allied leaders negotiated peace terms under the Treaty of Versailles. Fearing that Bri...