HMS Hawke: located after 100 years

In recent days, news has broken of the discovery of one of the first Royal Naval warships to be sunk in the First World War.

HMS Hawke (an Edgar-class cruiser) first came to the attention of the press before the war when, in September 1911, the warship collided with the RMS Olympic (sister ship to the Titanic which famously sank in 1912). The collision - in the Solent, off Southampton - was deemed to be accidental, and HMS Hawke was not too badly damaged, although her bow needed to be replaced.

At the start of the war, as part of the 10th Cruiser Squadron, HMS Hawke was on blockade duties, preventing goods arriving in Germany. On 15 October 1914, off the east coast of Scotland, Hawke stopped at 9:30 am to pick up mail from another vessel (this was undertaken by dropping a small cutter to ferry the mail across to the Hawke). After recovering the small cutter, and  out of sight of the rest of the Squadron, Hawke hastened to catch up, and proceeded at 13 knots but without zig-zagging to regain her station with the other ships. At 10:30 a single torpedo from the German submarine hit HMS Hawke. 

Almost 110 years later the wreck has been discovered, by the 'Lost in Waters Deep' group - whose members searches for shipwrecks in Scottish waters.

Steve Mortimer, a diver who is working alongside the Lost in Waters Deep project, told BBC Scotland that finding the location of HMS Hawke took a lot of hard work. "Lots of the decking is still in place - teak decking," he said. "There is a wonderful captain's walkway around the back of the stern. There's loads of guns because obviously she was a warship. There's lots of Royal Navy crockery. It is fascinating. She clearly was taken completely by surprise because lots of the portholes are still open."

Watch this video of the warship on the seabed:

This is a full account of the sinking of HMS Hawke : The sinking of HMS Hawke : 15 October 1914