Lyness

Lyness
Approaching Lyness ferry terminal
Lyness  Lyness shown within Orkney
OS grid reference	ND305942
Civil parish	Walls and Flotta
Council area	Orkney
Lieutenancy area	Orkney
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	STROMNESS
Postcode district	KW16
Dialling code	01856
Police	Scottish
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Orkney and Shetland
Scottish Parliament	Orkney
List of places UK Scotland

Coordinates: 58°49′44″N 3°12′14″W / 58.829°N 3.204°W

Lyness is a village on the east coast of the island of Hoy, Orkney, Scotland. The village is within the parish of Walls and Flotta,^[1] and is situated at the junction of the B9047 and B9048.^[2][3]

During the 1920s Lyness was briefly the headquarters of the metal salvage firm of Cox and Danks's raising of the German High Seas Fleet, scuttled by the Germans on 21 June 1919 during the Armistice (Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow).

During the Second World War it was home to HMS Proserpine, the main base for the naval fleet based at Scapa Flow.^[4]

Today an Orkney Ferries Ro-Ro car ferry links it to Longhope South Walls, the island of Flotta in Scapa Flow, and Houton on Mainland, Orkney.^[5]

Naval Cemetery

Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery was opened in 1915 primarily to serve the Scapa Flow base (which closed in 1946). Buried there are 445 Empire and Commonwealth service personnel, chiefly Royal Navy, from World War I (109 of whom are unidentified) and 200 from World War II (8 unidentified). There are also buried here 14 German Navy sailors and 4 other German service personnel including an unidentified Luftwaffe airman, and one Norwegian war grave. There are also 30 British non-war service burials (including 2 unidentified British Army soldiers). Major naval ship losses represented among the war graves include:

• HMS Hampshire (lost 1916)
• HMS Vanguard (1917)
• HMS Narborough (1918)
• HMS Opal (1918)
• HMS Royal Oak (1939) - 26 victims buried here.^[6]

References

1. "Details of Lyness". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
2. "B9047". Sabre. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
3. "B9048". Sabre. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
4. "Overview of Lyness". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
5. "Hoy". Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
6. ]CWGC cemetery report.

External links

• Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum, Lyness
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery
• Remembering Scotland at War - Life of a Lyness Wren