Lessons of Royal Oak to be taught

Published on Saturday 10 October 2009 19:59

THE sinking of the Royal Oak battleship – Scotland's biggest naval tragedy of the Second World War – is to be taught in Scottish schools for the first time.

A special teachers' information pack – including a video shot by a relative of one of 833 servicemen who perished on 13 October, 1939, after four German torpedoes holed the ship – is to be made available by Learning and Teaching Scotland, the education support wing of the Scottish Government, just ahead of the 70th anniversary of the loss of the ship.

Much of the material available for teachers comes from David Turner, whose uncle, Commander Ralph Lennox Woodrow-Clark, died in the attack. Turner has written a book, Last Dawn, on the tragedy, focused on the 150 boy sailors who also died.

Turner will this week join a handful of survivors to sail over the Royal Oak, now a war grave nestling on the seabed of Scapa Flow, Britain's most important naval base during both world wars.

He said: "There are now only six survivors. The eldest is 93 and, with the best will in the world, five years from now, on the 75th anniversary, most will have left us."

The writer will also appear in a special documentary about the German attack to be screened on STV on Tuesday to mark the anniversary.