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Flotta (ˈflɒtə) is a small island in Orkney, Scotland, lying in Scapa Flow. The island is known for its large oil terminal and is linked by Orkney Ferries to Houton on the Orkney Mainland, Lyness on Hoy and Longhope on South Walls. The island has a population of 80. At the turn of the 20th century, the island was a quiet rural community like many other small islands of Orkney, but its sheltered location led to three major upheavals in the island in the century. Until 1914, Flotta was a quiet farming community. In 1910, a population of 431 included two blacksmiths, four carpenters and three dressmakers. Everything changed with the arrival of the Royal Navy in Scapa Flow at the start of the First World War. There is a photograph held by the Imperial War Museum in London that shows a boxing match taking place on Flotta in front of a wartime audience of 10,000 people. During the First World War, the island was home to a naval base. The dreadnought HMS Vanguard sank nearby in 1917, reputedly the worst maritime disaster in UK waters. In the Second World War, the island was again used as a military base. 1918 saw the mass exodus of Navy personnel, and 1939 saw their return. After the Second World War the island had good piers and facilities, but a slowly declining population. It took until 1970 for fresh water to be piped to the island from Hoy. In 1974, Occidental Petroleum started construction of the island's oil terminal. This became the second largest major oil terminal serving the UK North Sea, the largest being Sullom Voe in Shetland. It took only two years from the start of construction until the first of the crude oil was pumped into the terminal, during which thousands of workers were posted at the "camp" in Flotta to complete the facility as Britain's thirst for oil was growing by the day. The Flotta oil terminal was opened by the energy minister, Tony Benn MP, on 11 January 1977. The oil terminal provides the landing for the Piper and Claymore fields pipeline system.

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Related concepts (4)

Lyness

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, and is situated at the junction of the B9047 and B9048. 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.

Hoy

Hoy (Hoy; from Old Norse Háey, meaning "high island") is an island in Orkney, Scotland, measuring – the second largest in the archipelago, after Mainland. A natural causeway, the Ayre, links the island to the smaller South Walls; the two islands are treated as one entity by the UK census. Hoy lies within the parish of Stromness. The Dwarfie Stane lies in the north of the Rackwick valley and dates back to around 3000 BCE. It is unique in northern Europe, bearing similarity to Neolithic or Bronze Age tombs around the Mediterranean.

Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow ('skɑːpə,_'skæpə; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries. Vikings anchored their longships in Scapa Flow more than a thousand years ago. It was the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Second World wars, but the facility was closed in 1956.