SMS Brummer

Alone among Scapa's seven German survivors, the Brummer was famous in her own right before the scuttling. Built as a fast minelaying cruiser — long, low and deceptively British-looking in silhouette — she and her sister Bremse fell on a Scandinavian convoy in October 1917 and destroyed its two escorting destroyers and much of the merchant column, one of the war's most complete raiding successes and a sharp shock to the Royal Navy. Interned in 1918, she went to the bottom with the fleet on 21 June 1919 and, lying beyond economic salvage, stayed there. Divers find her on her starboard side in about 36 meters in the Bring Deeps, slimmer than the other cruisers and somewhere between them in condition: her forward gun, bridge area and rangefinder remain identifiable, the minelaying deck that made her name can still be traced aft, and amidships the hull is folding down year by year. She rewards an unhurried tour along the port side with a torch — anemone-covered fittings resolve slowly out of the green — and remains the wreck with the best war story in the Flow.

How she sank: Scuttled with the interned German High Seas Fleet on Admiral von Reuter's order, 21 June 1919.

Condition: Intermediate among the cruisers — bow and stern coherent, midships collapsing

Penetration: Limited. Collapsing amidships sections offer holes rather than passages; enclosed spaces are silty and structurally suspect, for technical teams only. Entering any overhead environment requires specific training — a wreck certification at minimum, technical wreck training for full penetration.

Recommended certification: Advanced Open Water with deep and drysuit experience

Current: Mild · Visibility: 4–12 m

Marine life: Dense plumose anemones, wrasse and saithe over the hull, congers in the machinery, squat lobsters and edible crabs in every recess.

Hazards: Depth, cold dark water, degrading structure and old lines

Scheduled monument under UK law — look only; removal of any material is an offense