Inkwell Made from German Battleship Metal

A model gun turret from metal salvaged from the scuttled Imperial German battleship Helgoland fashioned into an inkwell. The turret revolves on the base through 360 degrees and has a hinged top (lid) which opens to reveal two aluminum ink reservoirs. Embossed on the lid: “CAST FROM METAL EX-SURRENDERED GERMAN BATTLESHIP HELGOLAND and THOS. W. WARD LTD. SHEFFIELD 1922”.

Helgoland was the name ship of a small class of three battleships and one battlecruiser ordered for the Imperial Navy during the celebrated Anglo-German ‘Arms Race’ of the early 20th century. Built at Kiel, Helgoland herself was 549 feet in length with a 94-foot beam and displaced 25,200 tons deep loaded. With a main armament of 12-12in. guns, she could cruise at 20 knots and must have been a hugely impressive sight at full speed. In action at Jutland, in Vice-Admiral Schmidt’s 1st Squadron, she was interned at Scapa Flow when the High Sea’s fleet surrendered after the November 1918 Armistice. Laid up idle for six months, Helgoland was scuttled along with the rest of the fleet on 21st June 1919, after which began the famous salvage operation which lasted throughout the 1920s.