World War I British warship lost in surprise attack 110 years ago found in the North Sea
Researchers have found a British warship from the First World War in the North Sea. According to experts, the ship sank during a surprise submarine attack 110 years ago.
Historians have specified that the ship, called HMS Hawke, sank after an enemy torpedo explosion on October 15, 1914, killing more than 500 crew members. Scottish shipwreck researchers, who actually came across the wreckage of the British warship, reported that it was a 118-meter-long cruiser, LiveScience reports.
The Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke was blockading the German mainland in October 1914 when it was sunk by a German torpedo.
Source: Public domain
British ship
Kevin Heath, an expert from the Lost in Waters Deep research group, said that about 70 crew members of the warship managed to survive this terrible accident because they reached the lifeboats.
According to scientists, the Hawke was one of several British warships that were designed to blockade the German mainland. This was a tactic that kept most of the German Imperial Navy in port during the war. However, the new underwater technology of German submarines allowed them to escape the blockade and sink several Allied military and civilian ships.
Images from the sonar system show debris lying on the seabed in the North Sea.
Source: Lost in Waters Deep
Kevin Heath said that Hawke was sunk by a torpedo from a submarine called U-9, commanded by Otto Weddigen, a famous German commander. A few weeks earlier, Weddigen and the U-9 had sunk three British cruisers patrolling the North Sea, causing more than 1,400 deaths.
According to historical records, these sinkings caused a wave of outrage among the British public at the time, damaging the reputation of the Royal Navy. Still, the attacks prompted the British admiralty to take the threat of German submarines more seriously.
The wreckage is well preserved
Divers discovered the wreckage on the seabed at a depth of 360 feet in the North Sea, about 112 kilometers east of the coast of Scotland.
Source: Simon Kay/Lost in Waters Deep
Kevin Heath said the wreckage of the Hawke now lies on the seabed at a depth of about 110 meters and 112 kilometers east of Fraserburgh, a coastal city in northeastern Scotland.
So far, the only underwater images of the wreck were taken by the team's divers during an August expedition to the area. They show the wreckage in "remarkable" condition, Heath said.
It was discovered and identified by members of the Lost in Waters Deep group and the Buchan Divers group on board the search vessel.
Source: Charlie Comrie
"Lots of the decking is still in place. There is a wonderful captain's walkway around the back of the stern [and] loads of guns, because obviously she was a warship," added Kevin Heath.
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