The Battle of Jutland’s Heritage Under Threat: Commercial salvage on the shipwrecks as observed 2000 to 2016.

Abstract

This paper presents the most recent findings up to August 2016 of the extent to which the shipwrecks from the battle of Jutland have been exposed to salvage for metals. Commercial salvage of the wrecks is not new and archival research has traced salvage activity as far back as 1960. However over the last 15 years the rate at which metals have been extracted from them has increased significantly, so that now at least 65 per cent of the wrecks in the battlefield bear the scars of commercial salvage activity, where propellers and condensers in particular can be seen to have been removed. The majority of this activity is believed to be unauthorized by the governments of Britain and Germany who still own them.