Orkney from mainland Scotland sought refuge on Orkney and were helped on to safety in Sweden. In 1745, the Jacobite lairds on the islands ensured that Orkney remained pro-Jacobite in outlook, and was a safe place to land supplies from Spain to aid their cause. Orkney was the last place in the British Isles that held out for the Jacobites and was not retaken by the British Government until 24 May 1746, over a month after the defeat of the main Jacobite army at Culloden. Orkney was the site of a Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, which played a major
History of the North Sea heightened in 1904 by the Dogger Bank incident. However, the British did not face a challenge to their dominance of the North Sea until World War I broke out in 1914. During the First World War the North Sea became the main theatre of the war for surface action. The Second World War also saw action in the North Sea, though it was restricted more to submarines and smaller vessels such as minesweepers, and torpedo boats and similar vessels. After the war, the North Sea lost much of its military significance because it is bordered only by NATO member-states. However,