More than 500 people died in the disaster
A “virtually intact” shipwreck discovered off the coast of Scotland is believed to be a British Royal Navy warship torpedoed by the Germans during the First World War. A diving team believes the North Sea find is the long-lost HMS Hawke, sunk by a German submarine 110 years ago.
A team of British divers have reported finding a wreck of a Royal Navy ship off the coast of Scotland that was believed to have sunk during World War I but remains “largely intact.”
Divers recently discovered a vessel in the North Sea that divers believe is the HMS Hawke, which sank after being hit by a German torpedo in October 1914, Agence France-Presse reports.
Paul Downes, who was among the divers filming the long-sunken vessel, described it as a «once in a lifetime» discovery given its «incredible» condition.
«The vessel is virtually intact,» he told AFP. «The state of preservation is incredible for a 110-year-old shipwreck that met a violent end.»
The Lost Underwater group, which searches for First World War shipwrecks in Scottish waters, has led a multi-year effort to find the warship.
The team is currently awaiting official confirmation from the Royal Navy after before presenting its findings to him, notes Agence France-Presse.
Only 70 of HMS Hawke's crew survived, while more than 500 died after she was attacked by a German submarine in the early months World War I.
The warship, an Edgar-class cruiser first launched in 1891, was 118 metres long and 18 metres wide, Agence France-Presse reports. It caught fire, exploded and then disappeared into the dark waters of the North Sea off north-east Scotland in less than eight minutes. It has been resting on the seabed at a depth of 110 metres ever since.
Downes believes the sea depth likely played a role in its survival.
The guns, other armament, decking and some interior fittings, such as a clock and a wall barometer, were still visible despite the ship having lain on the seabed for more than a century.
“The depth allows it to escape the storms that the North Sea gets in winter,” Downes said. He noted that the warship was built from “absolutely high-quality” materials during the heyday of the British Empire: “All the brass fittings on the wreck, such as the portholes and the gun ports, are still shiny… that’s probably because it was so well built.”
The Lost in the Deep team spent years trying to pinpoint where they believed the warship sank, including studying the submarine's commander's log and the logs of other Navy cruisers that came into contact with it.
The team was also helped by a report of a «blockage» on the seabed that was reported in the 1980s, although the wreckage was actually found 1 km (more than half a mile) away.
As Agence France-Presse notes, HMS Hawke was one of the first Royal Navy ships to be lost in the conflict, as the British navy initially struggled to adapt to the threat of German submarines.
“Historically, it’s very important,” Downes said. He predicted that after so long on the seabed, the wreck could not be successfully salvaged, but the final decision would be up to the Royal Navy. “I would imagine it would be classified as a war grave. So at some point in the future, you might be able to dive, but you can’t touch anything. It’s essentially an archaeological site. So everything is filmed and left in place.”
The Royal Navy told British media that it appreciated the efforts made to locate the wreck. «Once evidence is obtained to confirm this discovery, it will allow our historians to formally identify the sunken vessel,» a Navy spokesman said.