A HAMPSHIRE woman whose husband died on a British battleship sunk by a German U-boat during the Second World War, has been reunited with him in death exactly 61 years after the tragedy.

The ashes of Dorothy Golding, who died last November aged 94, were placed inside the wreck of HMS Royal Oak, which went down with the loss of 833 lives at Scapa Flow, off the Orkney coast, on October 14, 1939.

The ship is now considered to be a war grave.

Mrs Golding's husband, Arthur, who was 35 at the time of his death, had been assigned to the Royal Oak in his job as a bandmaster with the Royal Navy.

Despite living 60 years longer than her husband, Mrs Golding, from Gosport, never re-married.

The couple had two children and Mrs Golding also served in the Royal Navy.

Charlie Miller, vice-chairman of the Kirkwall branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland, said the event was coinciding with an annual service held at the site of the wreck. He said the couple's grandson, an experienced diver, was diving down to place his grandmother's ashes at the site. Speaking about the decision to inter the ashes he said: "I think it's very appropriate, I'm glad that they are doing it."