The ship sank with the loss of 800 lives

The 25-year-old battleship went down in Scapa Flow with the loss of 833 lives after it was torpedoed by a German U Boat in 1939.

The council has used booms, fixed to a salmon cage, in an attempt to trap and soak up the oil.

The Royal Navy has made several attempts to contain the flow over the last three years, including attaching steel patches to the hold, and fixing a canopy to catch the oil.

Complex plans

However, all efforts have failed and the council claims oil is still leaking at a rate of one and a half tonnes a week.

The navy unveiled details of its complex underwater plans to remove the oil on Friday morning.

It will insert a probe into the hull and attach a hose to pump out the oil.

In January, divers will concentrate on the area where the oil is leaking most.

Brian Taylor: "Delighted" at the move

Rear-Admiral Brian Perowne said: "We are actually going to remove the oil, so that has got to be the permanent solution."

Councillor Brian Taylor of Orkney Islands Council said the authority was "delighted" that something was being done.

"We would have liked it to have been sooner, but we know the complications that are involved in taking the oil out of the Royal Oak," he said.

The battleship, which is nearly 600ft long with a maximum width of 100ft, was built at Devonport, Plymouth, between 1914 and 1916.

She was armed with eight 15 inch guns and required a crew of 1,100.