Lost WWI Royal Navy Shipwreck Confirmed

Confirmation has been made that a wreck located off the Aberdeenshire coast is a Royal Navy warship that was torpedoed during World War One. Over 500 members of HMS Hawke’s crew perished when a German U-boat attacked it in October 1914. The vessel subsequently caught fire, and after an explosion, it sank in under eight minutes, with only 70 sailors surviving. A diving team found the wreck approximately 70 miles east of Fraserburgh earlier this year, noting its “remarkable” condition. Following an evaluation of the evidence, Royal Navy experts have now verified its identity as HMS Hawke. The confirmation of the ship’s identity involved the analysis of footage, photographs, and scans. The Lost in Waters Deep group, which undertakes searches for shipwrecks to commemorate wartime losses in Scottish waters, located the wreck on 11 August. Given its status as a war grave, no items were retrieved from the site. Experts have now confirmed, three months after its discovery, that the submerged vessel is HMS Hawke. Lieutenant Commander Jen Smith expressed appreciation for the continuous endeavors to find and identify wrecks across the UK. She stated, “Without these volunteers dedicating their time to these projects, the resting place of many of our sailors would never be found and their sacrifices forgotten, so we are most grateful.” Kevin Heath, the leader of Lost in Waters Deep, further commented, “It is great to hear that the Royal Navy has confirmed our discovery of HMS Hawke.”