 Markgraf was never raised for scrapping , unlike most of the other capital ships that were scuttled . Markgraf and her two sisters had sunk in deeper water than the other capital ships , which made any salvage attempt more difficult . The outbreak of World War II in 1939 put a halt to all salvage operations , and after the war it was determined that salvaging the deeper wrecks was financially impractical . The rights to future salvage operations on the wrecks were sold to Britain in 1962 . Owing to the fact that the steel that composed their hulls was produced before the advent of nuclear weapons , Markgraf and her sisters are among the few accessible sources of low @-@ background steel , which has occasionally been removed for use in scientific devices . Markgraf and the other vessels on the bottom of Scapa Flow are a popular dive site , and are protected by a policy barring divers from recovering items from the wrecks . 
