Why are WWII Shipwrecks Disappearing?

[@FrederSnorlax]

Your videos are so chock full of info. No reiterations, no preening, no fluff, no attempts to make the video about you or your own personality. Videos like this are so rare. Thank you. You are a treasure.

[@CalumRaasay]

Thank you so much! 🙏 my videos aren’t the most flash or fancy so it’s always fun to see them get to a wee audience! Have a great day 👍

[@garyhills2336]

Thank You for this video, informative & worrying. I have an ancestor on HMS Vanguard that exploded on the 9th jUly 1917. It sunk in Scapa Flow, 845 crew died, many are still with the ship including my lost relative. It scares me to think that for the sake of greed & profit, some people would destroy a war grave & all its history and claim its irrelevant in today's world. Its not, time does nothing to end the memory or respect for those that gave everything in defence of the nation including their lives. The UK Government & Navy must do more to police these & other shipwrecks & prosecute to the fullest aspect of the law any person or company that disrespects the ship & their lost crew.

[@CalumRaasay]

Thank you. Yes a worrying trend, and it's a shame that so many wrecks have been discovered by enthusiasts and well-meaning archeologists only to then be illegally scrapped. Interesting that you had relatives on the Vanguard. I did show some photos of the salvaging operations that were conducted on her in 1958/9, a good example of a war grave in our own waters that was heavily salvaged before the protection of war graves act came in. I hope in years to come we might see similar protections coming to these ships like it has to ships like the Vanguard.

[@garyhills2336]

@@CalumRaasay I am a supporter of a project that is trying to find photos of all those that died on the vanguard in 1917. We are all relatives in the project and it was not long ago that new video of the wreck was created, with of course all the legal permissions. I think lobbying the Government & the Royal Navy is going to be needed to raise this up the political and public agenda. There are 3 million shipwrecks around the globe, everyone has a history and many have those that died still within them. Yet, its horednous to think war ships are at risk. The ships are already fading by years in the sea, yet they mark a moment in time and a place for relatives to know where they relative fell. Its the least we owe to all who serve in whatever Navy & Country that, dignity, respect and understanding of history goes along with their sacrifice. Thank You

[@Deebz270]

Sorry Gary... But many are NOT still with the ship. In fact, NO ONE is still with the ship... They all died back in 1917 and sad though that was, it is not especially relevant today. . I don't get this war grave thing... No one has a problem with digging up human remains that are over several centuries old (beyond folk memory) and one could well argue that recycling the vast amount of materials left to otherwise decay, is a sound move. . I'm more horrified by those who support nations (UK, US, Israel, etc..) that sell arms to errant regimes, in order to bomb innocent civilians in proxy wars (Yeman, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria...), than a bunch of enterprising salvage divers working on a century old sunken warship.

[@garyhills2336]

@@Deebz270 If you destroy history its gone forever, if you destroy a grave it disrespects the person who lays in it. In the case of HMS Vanguard and so many other WW1 & WW2 ships, tens of thousands do remain in the ships. Now, Vanguard holds the sad aspect in history of having the largest loss of life on a British Warship in an sigal incident. 845, while HMS Royal Oak shown in this video came close to surpassing that sad record. The loss from an accident sent shockwaves tot he British public in 1917 because of the scale of the incident, it was very much national news. Its a moment that is British history and it should remain so. I do not care about salvage crews and their wants in this situation, this is a War Grave the ship and the thousands of others are recognised as such. It has already been proved that large numbers of those that died on the Vanguard do indeed remain in what's left of the ship and surrounding seabed. When you talk of remains being dug up, yes, archaeology does do that and they often go back several hundred years or thousands. The difference is these are remains not known until the dig, they do not start in a cemetery and dig up every skellington. It is entirely different. The remains are treated with respect. A salvage team breaking down a warship will not pay as much respect and it is disturbing to think of the skellington, whats left of the clothing, being discarded as an inconvenience for a firm seeking to make money. Those sailors who die at sea and were not able to be recovered have a right to be left in peace. A shipwreck is their grave site, the law must continue to offer protection for the sake of why people serve & why history matters. There is metal that can be reclaimed, there is greater ways to recycle whats needed, when modern buildings come to an end, the parts that make them get recycled, ships that reach the end without being sunk do get broken down and made into thousands of items. As a species we are incredibly wasteful and there is plenty of metal to be found on land that can be reused. Radiation on the metal is mans stupidity and many nations included the UK were stupid to do so much testing. Yet it cannot be undone now, and the need of the salvagers does not override the need for respect for a war grave for those who died in service to the nation. I am proud of my ancestor for his service, I do not want him moved from where he rests just for the sake of profit, that is not a valid reason for doing so!

[@ThePaulv12]

@@Deebz270 Well because you don't 'get it', then we don't need the protection of designated war graves? Is that it?

[@TheRCScotsman]

My friend, Callum, is a Royal Navy Diver and he had the honour of hoisting the White Ensign, on HMS Royal Oak.

[@norppaperkio9819]

Does he host a channel named slapped ham?

[@TheRCScotsman]

@@norppaperkio9819 He does not, no.

[@norppaperkio9819]

@@TheRCScotsman ah, beg your pardon then

[@TheRCScotsman]

@@norppaperkio9819 No worries!

[@CalumRaasay]

Wow what an experience that must be!

[@scottmurray5600]

I've dived the wrecks of Scapa Flow for many years and I can categorically say they are breaking up. The Dresden sticks in my mind as having the rails and bridge intact. When I dived it last the corrosion/weather conditions had caused the bridge section to disintegrate. Many other wrecks are in the same condition.

[@CalumRaasay]

Yeah there isn't much left of German High Fleet, though after a century underwater and almost as much time being salvaged I'm not surprised! I'd love to make a video on the raising of the High Fleet. Fascinating topic.

[@dinoschachten]

Reminds me of the Titanic wreck, and how "young" she was when I as a kid held in my hands a book full of photographs from the early expeditions, and how it only dawned on me slowly that today that wreck is quite exactly 1,5 times as old as it was then - 73 vs. 110 years. Think about the age difference that would be in a human: A few years into retirement vs. almost certainly not alive anymore. Somehow, despite seeing how immensely the steel had corroded in ocean water, in my mind a wreck (being already mere remains, resting beyond our reach) was something that would last for centuries to come...

[@spvillano]

@@dinoschachten the last I read, the Titanic was decaying a bit more rapidly due to the steel being consumed by bacteria.

[@shononoyeetus8866]

The British war graves arent even safe. Look at Repulse and Prince of Wales

[@kh2b573]

Well that's because they arent IN britain and the british government has little to no power on how to protect these

[@colinkelly5420]

@@kh2b573 And many of the countries in the region are not signatories to the relevant treaties that protect the wrecks.

[@pieppy6058]

SS richard montgomery pretty safe not going to lie

[@welsh_Witch]

exeter is gone now as well

[@welsh_Witch]

@@pieppy6058 its a bomb so no one is gonna touch it

[@jjc5475]

as someone from the Netherlands i already heard about this. it's horrible. thank you for bringing it to our attention again!

[@CalumRaasay]

I've found that the Dutch contribution to WW2 is a very overlooked aspect to the war in general.

[@jjc5475]

@@CalumRaasay true. even here. and also of course the bad sides. the dutch in indonesia weren't nice.

[@CalumRaasay]

john pardon oh gosh yes, not to defend any colonies! But I think a lot of folks maybe don’t realise the contribution of countries like The Netherlands, Norway, Poland etc. that were occupied for much of the war.

[@jjc5475]

@@CalumRaasay yes definitly. polish soldiers landed near my home in market garden. i live near arnhem. they where blamed for the failing of the operation even though it was really the british commanders who failed... i just found a dutch person who does proper history in english. maybe you can colab! kzbin.info/door/YLJ8hULBTjTTmJZGL-dq-A

[@stevemolina8801]

Very good job young man, as a ex US Navy Sailor I say Well Done!

[@flojotube]

Oh my god - this “short little video” you decided to make was incredibly educational and PACKED with 10 minutes of constant historical facts that I’d have never consumed otherwise. The sheer gravity of all the topics discussed (from the mass deaths to the unfathomable metal scrappers efforts) was an awful lot to process, but I have yet to see another who can do it quite as smoothly as you. ANOTHER masterpiece. Excellent.

[@allangibson2408]

The cargo and cruise ships being scrapped at the moment are going to the same place - China. Steel prices are at an all time high in China.

[@aniquinstark4347]

Because they're basically incapable of making quality steel themselves.

[@markmitchell450]

The issue goes back many years China has been buying the world's scrap steel for yrs often inflating the world market values

[@conzmoleman]

oh my GOD stop with this anti china BS. this is “iraq has wmds” all over again. the cia and state department wants you to hate china and you pathetic lot are lapping it up like mindless drones. makes me sick.

[@allangibson2408]

@@conzmoleman It is not Anti-China BS - this is a simple statement about what as been going on with Chinese companies mining ship wrecks. It is as real as the bases China has been building off the coast of the Philippines.

[@CalumRaasay]

Well I've already found a few spelling mistakes 🤦‍♀️

[@kmc7355]

Just about to watch but i'm gonna guess people want pre-nuclear era steel for instruments etc? (Rov pilot/tech) Edit: Not far off. I had heard a 3rd hand story of a certain salvage company from Europe doing this.

[@EggBastion]

Caslte? eh, it's a good video you've made all the same! The irony of these tools of war being the only source of a material free from the taint of other tools of war... maybe we should all just get in the sea with 'em and bloody stay there *_:' \_*

[@stianjosok]

The video as a whole is great. I didn't notice the spelling mistakes. I think I was too busy thinking about the intresting topics you brought up. I stopped and read the news paper about the Royal Oak being sunk. I found it interesting to read knowing what lays ahead for those reading it at the time. Thanks for the great work on the video

[@CalumRaasay]

Stian Josok highly recommend the British newspaper archives if you like that kind of stuff!

[@stianjosok]

@@CalumRaasay just made an account. Their archive is incredible! Thanks for the recommendation.

[@ThePaulv12]

Kreigsmarine is not correct for the period you're discussing around 1:00. It existed in the period 1933-45 (or the Nazi period). The High Seas Fleet was the battle arm of the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) in the 'growing threat' period as you correctly put it. This growing threat influenced the RN to use Scapa Flow as the main base of the Grand Fleet.

[@safetyinstructor]

*Kriegsmarine

[@iichthus5760]

Since background radiation has decreased exponentially, since the 1963 test ban, to near prewar levels, the need for low background steel is no longer much of a concern as new steel can be used for nearly all of even the most sensitive applications.

[@spvillano]

Recycled steel became a major problem at one point, due to some lost radiation sources getting mixed into recycling and while diluted, still was a stray gamma emitter with some relatively soft beta. That's largely faded as well, in part due to the recycled steel being in use, in part due to decay of the source radioisotopes and in part due to crucibles being replaced and plants going offline. Laughably, I'm a higher emitter than most new steel or recycled steel, but I was born a week after Tsar Bomba, when atmospheric testing still was a thing. I knew that in theory, but got to see a gamma camera reading during a thyroid scan during calibration of my background rate.

[@donaldbadowski290]

Torn by this. On the one hand, it's not as if salvage crews from the West had great respect for the graves of the dead of Spanish galleons laden with gold and silver plundered from the New World. I can't ever recall it even being mentioned. Granted after more that 400 years the remains of those sailors have dissolved long ago. But still, if we look upon the WW2 dead in this way, we have to look upon it for every wreck. And that includes the 16 dead from the USS Monitor, which now sits in a giant bath in Virginia. BTW, you should go see it. I'd also mention the Kursk, the Russian sub that had a torpedo explode and sank it with all hands in 2000. The people made a demand that it be raised so that the remains could be buried, and Putin complied, amazingly enough. And it's not as if the steel is going to waist. The medical world does need this non-radioactive steel. Shall we sacrifice the living of today because we don't want to touch the battleship steel of yesterday? However, if these Indonesian salvage crews take it upon themselves to go after these ships, it is also up to them to handle any remains they do come across with respect, and see that they get back to their home countries. You don't dump them in a pit and keep your mouth shut.

[@johncounts2182]

I think the main issue here is the illegalization of the salvage operations. attempts at returning the remains consists of an admittance to the act of salvage, which would open the respectful salvager to theft by the government of the destination country of the resources they had labored to recover, and to persecution for the "illegal" act of recovering lost/ abandoned/ devoid-of-life vessels from beneath the high seas. as governments caused the building of the ships of war, and caused the loss of the souls on those ships by engaging in and causing war, so do governments cause still more grief by ensuring even the remains are handled in the least savory way possible by driving otherwise noble efforts into the black market.

[@tamlandipper29]

It is always encouraging to find someone attempting to look at an issue from several angles. However, I think you have made some errors. In the order you mention them: plundering ancient historic sites was largely done carelessly by our ancestors and we are not obliged to repeat their mistakes; the Kursk was lifted by the nation in whose service the men died for the purpose of honouring them more perfectly; and the medical steel ought to be better procured in a traceable and legal way for the benefit of the precision at the end of it - nor is it clear they aren't simply wasting it by selling it as normal scrap. Most importantly these scavengers are not using care or respect in their work. And while few of the Second World war generation are left, tehir children are very much alive. Is it right and proper that the last resting place of your father should be raked over for a quick buck? As I say, always worth thinking it over. But in this case we should be emphatic and decisive. No, it is unacceptable, and the public should make clear that it wants more done to stop it.

[@johncounts2182]

@@tamlandipper29 "...procured in a traceable and legal way..." Is there anything about the process of making something legal or illegal that intrinsically imparts morality or immorality? If so, what do you think it is?

[@tonyromano6220]

Sad, but people need to make a living.

[@WarMarsM]

​@@johncounts2182 Can't speak for the other guy, but I don't think the legality itself has any direct effect on morals; more that by deeming things illegal it encourages clandestine operations that make things untraceable. Ex. rather than official channels existing to return a shipwreck's war dead to their home countries after salvage, the salvager might just dispose of them secretly (and disrespectfully) in order to not be found out by the authorities.

[@milkapeismilky5464]

I was totally unaware of the radiation issue in metals. This is a bit off topic, but can almost feel the ghosts of all those desperate WW2 trans Atlantic convoys, as you talk about the subject. If you are aware of the history, I believe it really changes the perspective of the area you're traversing. How many dead ships and lost souls are underneath the keel of the boat you ride in? I'm not trying to be melodramatic, this video actually gave me a bit of a nasty chill. Beautifully done as always.

[@CalumRaasay]

Great comment, and not something I've ever thought about - the idea of passing over (potentially) thousands of years of history on the sea bed...

[@milkapeismilky5464]

@@CalumRaasay This was one of the most unique and informative videos I've run across in some time. This topic deserves more exposure; thank you!

[@alganhar1]

Not many. The sea bed is not a kind place for either ship wrecks or the bodies of those unfortunates who died on those ships. Average depth of the Atlantic is 4 km, of the Pacific 4.5 km. Down there there are marine worms that specialise in breaking down bones and food is scarce enough that a windfall like a sunken ship will attract organisms from a fair old range. The bodies will be gone, with the exception of maybe the teeth, in less than a decade unless they are buried quickly by the sediment, which is unlikely. The deep sea organisms down there will reduce the body of a fully grown Whale to nothing within 20 years, and that includes the bones.

[@benjroof]

Many thanks for the video,Calum.The horror of war !!

[@johnwarne8864]

Great video, my great grandfather, John William Warne and his brother William Harry Warne we’re on board the HMS Vanguard when it was lost in 1917. Long may it remain protected.

[@davidwilkinson333]

Another fascinating video, thank you 👍 If you are ever short of a topic, might I suggest looking into the career of Capt. Guybon Damant. He was head the Royal Navy's first salvage unit. He was also and all but unheard of for an officer, a keen diver. His unit worked on U Boats sunk in the Dover Strait, often recovering code books in warm acidic water (from the batteries) within hours of them sinking. He salvaged all but a few bars of gold from the SS Laurentic and numerous other salvage missions, all in the infant days of diving. In conjunction with Prof. Haldane at Oxford and his chief diver, Cato, they developed the world's first decompression tables and set numerous diving records.

[@CalumRaasay]

Huh I’ve never heard of him! Funnily enough I have been reading up on another diver, the famous “commander crabb “ incident!

[@ixian_technocrat]

"After the War, all newly forged metal was tainted, so people search the sea floor for sunken ships to salvage the precious untainted steel." Damn, I didn't know I was living in a fantasy setting. If we pray enough to the God of Steel will the taint disappear?

[@thetau4866]

Sadly no, once radiation taints something, it's almost eternally corrupted, since its half-life is so long

[@melelconquistador]

Tainted steel is a problem sometimes. Look up the nuclear spill of Juarez México.

[@CalumRaasay]

Thats a very cool hook for a story, haha!

[@spvillano]

@@thetau4866 not quite true. Strontium-90 has a 28 year half-life, 35 for cesium-137, most of the rest are high emitters with short half-lives, so decay fairly quickly. Plutonium isotopes can be problematic with longer half-lives, but also tended to be decreasing rapidly as weapon designs became more efficient and uranium is fairly ubiquitous, being common in granite as an example. Now, if only we would put the rest of those products of the insanity factory into disassembled storage and a few geocentric for possible ablation usage against incoming stray rocks, we'd be rid once and for all of the infernally stupid weapons.* *I thought they were stupid when I worked on one model, I still think they're stupid things today. It's time for the 5 year olds to put dad's gun back up on the shelf.

[@Bob1942ful]

Great video. Something I would never have thought, salvaging pre-war wrecks for uncontaminated metal. The newspaper displayed was rather striking. Below the article about the sinking was an article called “America says, Hitler has cold feet”. Pause the video and read. It is rather interesting.

[@thefucrew9865]

Fair winds and following seas, Shipmates. R.I.P.

[@xmlthegreat]

I'd read about this elsewhere so I was waiting for you to get to the part about the radiation. Nothing like feeling vindicated. Edit: I didn't know about the extent of the robbery... Sheesh.

[@markmitchell450]

This applies to all steel produced before the ww2 test and two bombs dropped on japan plus further nuclear tests way into the 50s Any steel produced before these nuclear bombs has the same low radiation signature Used in medical equipment mri and other scanners and many other uses and has a higher value

[@SmokinPaul]

​@@markmitchell450 Radiation free steel can. and is. made today using modern techniques. However its much more expensive thus pre-war steel is still in high demand

[@kentslocum]

I was aware of this issue before, but I had no idea of just how complicated it is. It seems the countries who detonated nuclear bombs owe it to the rest of world to properly exhume their sunken ships, lay the men and women inside to rest, and provide the steel for scientific use. However, this also seems disrespectful to the men and women who served and died on those vessels. So as usual, the responsible parties look the other way while looting occurs. That way, they can claim to respect the dead while still benefitting from the scrapping of the vessels.

[@knobjob2839]

I saw something on this a year or two ago. Apparently it's not as bad as it used to be, because modern equipment isn't as affected by trace radiation as it used to be. So the demand for pre-war steel is falling. At least in first world countries.

[@daveroche6522]

We learnt about the scuttling in school years ago, but naturally none of us ever considered refloating/salvage. Excellent presentation - thank you.

[@spvillano]

It was mostly theory after WWI, it became a reality for shallow wrecks during WWII, with most of the Pearl Harbor fleet refloated fairly quickly. Novel at the time hazards were also discovered in compartments with food or crew concentrating hydrogen sulfide and killing some salvagers. Much later, the gas wasn't as highly concentrated and the task of removal of remains was mostly removing bones from some spaces.

[@Jukebocks]

Black Lagoon said it best: They're just things. As soon as you strip away their meanings, then that's all they really are; just things and nothing more. Their value will be determined by the one thing everyone agrees on and that's money.

[@brandonkelbe]

Bitcoin.

[@thhseeking]

I didn't see any spelling mistakes, but the "De Ruyter" was its own class. The Java-class were German-designed & built towards the end of the First World War in Holland. De Ruyter was from the 1930s. The ship rolling over at 1:30 is clearly not a German ship scuttling at Scapa Flow. Crew members scrambling over the hull and the triple turrets make me think of an Austrian Tegetthof. And at 0:53 where the RN's decision to use Scapa Flow is mentioned, that's a German Baden-class, though they DID end up there after the War :P

[@CalumRaasay]

I don't know how I got the photos mixed up, but I was referring to the HNLMS Java which was found in the early 200s and discovered to be have been scrapped in 2016. But yeah there's no real footage of the scuttling (there's a tiny clip I saw in a museum in orkney years ago but I can't fin it now) but I just wanted to show a ship going belly up, the photos following it are from the actual event though. That footage is actually from the same film reel as 0:53, I was intentionally using footage of the german fleet as I was talking about how they were a growing threat pre-war.

[@stevehay964]

Yep, it's not good to mess with history by pretending to show an event that is actually another famous event a long way away.

[@lexloose2112]

Very interesting video thanks. A couple of years ago I needed a CAT scan at Addenbrookes hospital in UK and was taken to a very old machine that was made in the early 50s I think it was. The radiography tech nurse was telling me that the metal it was made from was from a ship which I think was the Graf Spey (I took pics that I'm trying to find) she said, the reason she explained was the machine is so sensitive that all metal after the war was contaminated and couldn't be used in these types of machines as the tolerances are so s!mall. There is a plaque on the machine as a memorial to all lost. I don't know if MRI,cat scanners are different today.

[@pierQRzt180]

Graf Spee. Is a ship that was scuttled in the Montevideo bay in 1939 or 1940.

[@PauloGarcia-sp5ws]

Its so sad these ships are being stolen. Did not even know this was a problem.

[@Deebz270]

FFS! Get a grip!

[@zambani]

Very good video. It all comes down to cost. Pay to recover the bodies, pay to guard the ships or get paid for selling the metals. At the end of the day, the one with the most determined group will get their way.

[@anthonyxuereb792]

Fascinating. It looks like a real lonely place. Personally, if the wrecks are not graves then by all means remove and recycle them if there is still some benefit to be gained.

[@rachard]

Hello from Indonesia, love this video, I didnt know that illegal salvaging here is so common.

[@CalumRaasay]

Oh don't worry it's a problem worldwide! Scapa flow itself was widely salvaged with little care to which shipwrecks were scrapped until the war graves act came in.

[@johnbockelie3899]

Capt.Gunther Prien U-47. Sunk the Royal Oak.

[@Epic-pf8od]

Don't know who you are, what you usually do or why you're in my recommended, but I did enjoy this video.

[@TheGuitologist]

What IDIOT made the decision to scuttle all those ships? Must have been a government employee. I don't see a problem with salvaging materials from the sea bed.

[@michaelbaker8284]

I wonder if it was Churchill who was lord of the admiralty at some point.

[@richardcutts196]

Not ALL modern steel. Low radiation steel can still be made but it is very expensive.

[@alecblunden8615]

Not to be picky, but I suspect the High Seas Fleet was part of the Kaiserlich marine, not the Kriegsmarine

[@CalumRaasay]

Thanks for the info! For some reason i thought the Kriegsmarine name went back much further than the 1930s

[@alganhar1]

@@CalumRaasay Nope, another common mistake is referring to the German Army of the 30's - 40's as the Wermacht, when it was actually the Heer. The Wermacht was actually used to refer to the German military as a whole, so included the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine as well as the Heer. Pretty much everyone these days, including I may add most Germans, use it incorrectly.

[@TheFiown]

Another 'safe harbor' is Invergordon and Cromarty Firth where I went to school. There was a horrific tragedy there on DEC 30 1915 when a ship sank that was hosting a party with the kids from surrounding villages, 421 died and the elders told of hearing the screams as the ship went down very quickly. The Royal Yacht was harboured there when the Queen would go to Balmoral back in the day. When I was a kid they took up the fated ship ( HMS Natal , ironic name ) and pieces were dragged onto the shores and pier in Invergordon. We would go down and look but it didn't really affect us, not knowing all the story.

[@amariner5]

Thank you for this video. I missed the Guardian story in 2017, but I getting to that next. This is not over. In 2015 the wreck of the USS HOUSTON was surveyed by US and Indonesian Navies, finding some illegal salvage.

[@Cadwaladr]

Fascinating history, I didn't know much about the Orkneys except that it's where my favourite whisky comes from.

[@cludecat7072]

the scariest part is some wrecks may be salvaged before being officialy found and marked.

[@moredistractions]

It would be nice if all of these wrecks could at least be officially filmed and documented from an archeological perspective to record their final state and resting place. For some reason I don't think the scrappers are taking the time to do that...

[@andrew1717xx]

Id like to know who is paying for this. It seems a bit strange given the location-- Singapore.

[@thetruthexperiment]

There are so many history and science channels hosted by people from the UK who have terrible speaking voices. I was beginning to think I didn't like the various UK accents anymore but, no, there are just lots of people who think they know how to talk that are terrible at it. This channel, which I just found is absolutely listenable. Your voice is completely normal and I have faith in humanity again. At first I was expecting to hate this channel but no, it's great. Your voice isn't annoying and that is awesome. It's not where your from, it's who you are that makes your voice annoying and so these people I'm talking about must be, deep down terrible people.

[@robperkins2085]

@calum - there are 720 comments here so if what I am about to say has been said already, my apologies. When referring to Royal Navy ships you should simply say, for example, HMS Exeter OR the Exeter but it's grammatically incorrect to say "the HMS Exeter" because what you're saying is "the His Majesty's Ship Exeter" Love your videos and a big fan of yours so thought you would like to make sure you got this point right for future videos.

[@kauhanecorrea6726]

I like your style man. You have a lot of great video that are very well researched and informative. You tell the stories so well too. Keep making videos!!!

[@CalumRaasay]

Thank you so much, always nice to get good feedback on what I do!

[@chrisg1234fly]

Great video!! At a time when I am reviewing my YT subscriptions, your channel is a breath of fresh air!!!

[@fredceely]

Fascinating subject matter, and a very nice job putting it together. Thanks!

[@nattybird1146]

i dont like having these massive chunks of history scrapped, but there is good that comes from it

[@gnartm]

Thanks for the video! We continue to enjoy your material and appreciate the effort that goes into it!

[@danamagic1]

I had no idea this was even a thing, I learn something new every day

[@MillwalltheCat]

We had relatives that lived on Burray, and St Margret's Hope, and we would visit them from the early seventies until the mid eighties. In that time, and since, the east side of the Churchill Barrier betwwen Burray and South Ronaldsay has been filling in with sand. Most of the original Block Ships on the east side, Pontos, Carron, etc., have completely become land-locked, and it's a bizzare sight seing ships surrounded by grass and sheep!. I've often wondered why the sea disappeared so quickly during that time, and I've never been able to find a satisfactory explaination. Very happy memories though, especially of visiting the wreck of the Irene, which has now disappeared.

[@briangc1972]

I think most of the people criticizing these operations do not realize the life saving benefits of recovering those old ships. If my grandfather had died on one of those ship wrecks, I would be happy to see the ship recovered because I know the recovery of it will save more lives. Leaving the ship at the ocean floor doesn't help anyone. Using that steel for high tech medical equipment saves lives. Not much different than donating an organ when you pass away. Do you think any of those sailors would hesitate to donate an organ to save a shipmate? I would wager that they would be happy to have their ship recovered and recycled into life saving medical equipment.

[@bombousboy]

Mr Calum, a brilliant well narated video. Thank you. I doff my cap.

[@CalumRaasay]

Thank you! Had a lot of fun making it

[@FancyMcDancy]

You should say that the ship sinking at 1:26 was not German and was not at Scapa Flow. It was the Austrian battleship SMS Szent István (Saint Stephen), sunk by Italian MTBs off the Dalmatian coast in 1918.

[@richardcline1337]

As witnessed by their own countrymen, there are Brits who routinely go out and pilfer the numerous German submarines sunk along the British coastline. So it's not just the low life's of Asia that are doing this. They are just doing it on a much larger scale.

[@BridgeB.C]

Great topic, great video man!

[@xmlthegreat]

I think people who discover wrecks should keep them a government secret. Far fewer cases of illegal salvage when the thieves don't know where to go.

[@deemond5289]

I do too. However we live in a world where "Archeology" seems to think it's alright to and disturb graves all the time. It's a tough subject but I lie on the side that says, leave them in peace. As time flies by though people forget the history or don't even know it, sadly. The raising of the Mary Rose comes to mind.

[@theotmt7906]

Near where I live, on the java sea, the wrecks of ships sunk in the java sea are starting to disappear from salvaging, I absolutely despise this as it is grave robbery, I wish the maritime ministry here starts to take measures to ensure that these wargraves do not end up dissapearing for good...

[@theotmt7906]

@@augustuslunasol10thapostle many people died, it is basically grave robbing, I consider that despiseful and bad, would you dig in graves in the Verdun memorial?, no right? it is basically the same thing as that.

[@2663540]

My most favorite channel right now.. totaly balls deep nerdism👍🏻

[@chrisbrent7487]

The list of war graves robbed for their pre-atomic age steel is sadly long. HMAS Perth is almost non existent now as is the USS Houston and several Dutch ships that were sunk in the Sunda Strait. The HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse shared the same fate. Japanese war graves too have also been illegally salvaged.

[@stevebosun7410]

BRILLIANT. Thanks Calum.

[@pigeonpallz1733]

As quark from star trek said .....they nuked their own plane !?!? Yes ....yes we did . thanks for the video

[@rogerstuder4740]

Thank you for a great video, I had no idea this was happening. Man's greed knows no bounds.

[@practicalshooter6517]

Great work, amazing footages. You must have worked pretty hard to gather all the information for the making of this video. Thank you

[@CalumRaasay]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ArcAudios77]

Thanks Calum, an informative watch. Best Wishes are sent.

[@garrycane1170]

Interesting, informative and well narrated. Many thanks.

[@CalumRaasay]

So nice of you, many thanks!

[@gunbreon81]

Am very surprised this video does not have more than 1 million views, we need to spread it.

[@jhnshep]

was expecting loss to time and water, I dived the laurentic in the early 2000's the boilers still stood everything else was flattened under the pressure, wasn't expecting tomb raiding and space and space travel!

[@Qunia]

I find it soo sad that these relics are being salvaged. I have a sort of “passion” for these massive battleships, hell, most of my favorite naval ships are WW2 battleships. One of these in particular is the “Yamato”, which one day will completely disappear and it is kinda sad. I will never ever see the sight of these massive warships, which saddens me.

[@CalumRaasay]

Weirdly I remember the Japanese Government looking into the viablity of raising sections of the Yamato which sounds like a crazy project. I'd love to see it attempted however!

[@sinisterisrandom8537]

@@CalumRaasay I believe they want to move her slowly not into just museums but also to bring those who have fallen back home since they were never gonna come back. I also believe cause they want to potentially study parts of the ship I honestly have no clue but I do wish a Yamato was risen to full operation. Mostly so it can be used to preserve a history of the crew as well as honoring the service of the ship. Though likely shouldn't due to potential controversy.

[@raymondleggs5508]

@@sinisterisrandom8537 Sounds like a noble idea, It would probably be more feasable to raise the HMHS britannic or the Prinz eugen though due to the fact they are in warm shallow water.

[@louie55ish]

Wow! Never knew any of this. Thx for sharing.

[@robinmasselink1907]

Petition to start a fleet with older military vessels to just patrol these wreck sites and wargraves to protect them from salvage.

[@K-Effect]

History is always worth money. That's why the older it is the harder it is to find

[@Austin_]

It's always amazing to learn more about the British isles!

[@AtlasAS7D]

Excellent job sir, one minor mistake of note presuming it hasn't already been pointed out. At 1:27-1:35 while discussing the scuttling of German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow, you've included footage of the sinking of the "Szent Istvan" an Austro-Hungarian battleship sunk on June 18th, 1918 by Italian torpedo boats in the Adriatic Sea. Good for dramatic effect, but not quite historically accurate. Though now that I think about it, I'm not sure how many men were lost on the Szent Istvan or whether her wreck has ever been discovered and explored.

[@CalumRaasay]

Yeah I couldn’t find any good footage, only photos so used that instead!

[@tylercrist3428]

This was so intriguing! Thank you for your insight.

[@MichaelMcFearin]

I had no idea this was happening, thank you for the video.

[@groupcaptainbonzo]

Clear, concise, informative, interesting. Brilliant . Loved it 😊

[@bernardhollis7834]

Unfortunately HMAS Perth in the Sunda Strait may have faced a similar fate.

[@Harold_Flite]

One of the main reasons pre WW2 ships are being salvaged is the non radiated steel. All steel made today is contaminated with radiation, making it weaker and prone to rust and other failures. Being stuck at the bottom of the ocean however, has protected this steel and is highly sort after by certain groups of businesses in particular steel manufacturing and it is worth a pretty penny to the right buyers. If I remember correctly, it's called low background steel. I'm pretty sure you can Google that...

[@andrefiset3569]

I have big doubts all this low background steel salvaged in Asia is turned into sensitive equipment but it is certainly more cheaper to do it just for scrap metal in this part of the world by divers who are willing to risk their life for a meager pay i think.

[@treylewis5281]

Great job M8. Much respect to you and yours. Fascinating stuff, for real. Thank you.

[@vitanera4032]

All shipwrecks should be salvaged For a lot of reasons, Like introducing materials that should not be there and in these quantities Medical purposes for that metal because of radiation today and so on. No thousand of tons of metal are not a grave, a tombstone is If for you that is a tombstone then why it’s left to disappear? No salvaging a shipwrecks it’s not the same as digging a grave, I find this comparison insulting because in the first who know how many people can be helped with that metal In the second it’s you

[@JuicyFruityify]

Dude, your quality is better than the BBC not that I'm lumping you in with them at all but, quality stuff. Keep it up.

[@CalumRaasay]

Well I grew up listening to, watching and love BBC stuff so I guess some of it sunk in!

[@victoriaevelyn3953]

more wrecks need too be protected from criminals thieving these final resting places of the war dead i find it incredibly disrespectful that someone with little care or knowledge can just rip up something so historic all for the sake of money those wrecks were a new life to the seabed and a place to rest in peace we have lost the ability to reuse what we already have like the generations that died on board those vesicles they let nothing go to waste now things are so easily thrown away and replaced

[@cdmcl3]

very special report, not without feeling. thanks.

[@mjallenuk]

Really well done... The research for these subjects must be quite hard reading at times. You put it across expertly.

[@CalumRaasay]

Thank you Matt, much appreciated!

[@finnlikesplanes7110]

love your videos!

[@davidproudfoot6390]

Incredible video very very enjoyable keep up the good work❤❤

[@timkbirchico8542]

Hard to see why Indonesians after centuries of colonisation and the horrors of Ww2 should have any particular respect for these war graves. Many dead Indonesians lie in unmarked mass graves and were treated with no respect by beligerents in WW2 nor by colonial authorities.

[@CalumRaasay]

It's a good point. Though I've never been upset at the lack for respect for a war grave (though I recognise that many people are, which is why I mentioned it) but rather the wasteful salvage of a historical site before it can often be investigated or documented.

[@irksomeduck]

Excellent video Calum 👍

[@CalumRaasay]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@johnbockelie3899]

Thank you for the information Those ass holes stealing this material don't care what it means . They just want money.

[@eastwoodsadventures]

Well put together video

[@CalumRaasay]

Thank you!

[@dat2ra]

Good job. Well executed and informative. Thanks.

[@richardspeed7135]

Nice one mate, totally respect

[@CalumRaasay]

Thanks for watching!

[@bundlesofjoe]

I wish they would find an alternative to this metal as it is not only effecting diving it is effecting the ecosystem as well. I have a massive fear of open water so I couldn't even visit one of these locations but their importance to the ecosystem should not be under looked.

[@nathandodge665]

I don't understand why pre-war metal would be more valuable you still have to use oxygen to recycle it

[@KumaBean]

Absolutely fascinating and brilliantly presented, thank you for sharing 🤝

[@wampuscat1831]

Sadly high tech social media now lets everyone both good and bad learn of sweet spots on both sea and land bring the end to many of them.

[@K.E.L-117]

Scapa Flow looks very interesting, and the wartime history across a large period of time shows that while a lot changes... A lot really doesn't. It's always going to be rivers, natural harbours, valleys and channels that are desired for a multitude of reasons. Albany in Western Australia would be my nearest simulacrum for Scapa Flow with a similar war time history and even more ancient traditional history. It also has Orca's.

[@georgepetrin1334]

A spellbinding video Calum.

[@pr-jj6nc]

Keep up the great work, your content is always interesting

[@dztrbdgod]

Cracking vid mate. Keep it up

[@wolf0x1]

An interesting video as always Calum. Keep them coming!