Divers discover WWI British warship off Scotland's coast
12:11 PM EDT, August 20, 2024
Off the coast of Scotland, the wreck of a British warship that was sunk during World War I has been discovered. HMS Hawke was found by a team of divers around 80 miles east of Fraserburgh. It sank in October 1914.
Groups of scientists have verified data for years to identify the ship resting on the seabed. They even checked the logs of the German U-boat commander to determine where the ship was hit.
— Data was analyzed for years, but we spent only a few hours on site — diver Steve Mortimer from the Lost in Waters Deep group told the BBC. Now the discoverers will have to wait for confirmation of their theory by the Royal Navy.
British explorers found the wreck of a warship. It may be HMS Hawke, sunk by the Germans in 1914
The ship discovered near Fraserburgh is most likely HMS Hawke. It was attacked in October 1914 by a German U-boat. The vessel caught fire, followed by an explosion, and the ship went down in eight minutes.
A total of 524 crew members died. Seventy sailors survived the disaster, escaping from the sinking ship.
HMS Hawke, an Edgar-class cruiser, was 387 feet long and 59 feet wide. It was launched in 1891. Three years before the German attack, in 1911, it was severely damaged in a collision with the sister ship of the Titanic, RMS Olympic.
When World War I broke out, the ship's crew was included in the 10th Cruiser Squadron and assigned to a naval blockade in the Shetland area. Later, in the southern North Sea, it protected Canadian soldier convoys from German attacks. A German torpedo from U-9 hit HMS Hawke on October 15, 1914.
The Lost in Waters Deep group discovered the wreck on August 12. It rested 361 feet below the water's surface. Diver Steve Mortimer said the U-boat commander's log was not the only document analyzed to identify the British ship. They also sought accounts from Scottish fishermen from the 1980s who documented obstacles on marine routes.
Mortimer called the ship a "time capsule." He said that looking through the portholes, you can see extraordinary items inside the vessel. There are cups, bowls, and plates on the floor. Some bear the signature of the Royal Navy of Great Britain.
