A wreck discovered off the coast of Aberdeenshire is believed to be a misplaced Royal Navy warship sunk by a torpedo throughout the First World Struggle.
HMS Hawke was discovered by a staff of divers in “outstanding” situation 70 miles east of Fraserburgh earlier this week.
A German U-boat assault in October 1914 killed greater than 500 sailors.
The ship caught hearth and, following an explosion, sank inside eight minutes, with solely 70 sailors surviving.
It’s hoped the wreckage might be formally recognized by the Royal Navy within the coming weeks.
The wreck was found by the Misplaced in Waters Deep staff – which searches for shipwrecks in Scottish waters to commemorate wartime losses.
HMS Hawke, an Edgar-class protected ship 387ft (118m) lengthy and 60ft (18m) huge, was first launched in 1891.
In 1911, it was badly broken in a collision within the Solent with Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympic.
On the outbreak of the First World Struggle, Hawke was posted to the tenth Cruiser Squadron and took half in blockade missions between Shetland and Norway.
In October 1914, German warships have been stationed additional south within the North Sea as a part of efforts to stop attacking troops from Canada.
On 15 October 1914, whereas on patrol off the coast of Aberdeen, HMS Hawke was hit by a torpedo from the German submarine U-9.
This main assault within the early levels of the battle was an early indication of the Royal Navy's vulnerability to German U-boats, even within the north of Scotland.
The wreck, the ultimate resting place of 524 sailors, was situated 360 ft (110 m) beneath the floor on August 12.
Steve Mortimer, a diver engaged on the Misplaced in Waters Deep venture, advised BBC Scotland that HMS Hawke's whereabouts had been laborious to seek out.
The staff's analysis included going via knowledge from the interval, such because the U-boat commander's day journal, which indicated the place the torpedo was when it was fired.
Additionally they checked out data of different naval ships that had “exchanged put up” with HMS Hawke shortly earlier than it sank, giving them a normal space of the ship's whereabouts.
One other piece of knowledge is a “barrier” in seabeds reported by Scottish Fisheries within the Nineteen Eighties.
A dive vessel probed the embankment, however discovered nothing.
Nonetheless, a kilometer away they found a big shipwreck.
“It took years of analysis, however the precise time on the bottom was just a few hours,” Mr Mortimer mentioned.
HMS Hawke has clearly deteriorated after a century at sea, however continues to be in outstanding situation, he mentioned.
“A whole lot of the decks are nonetheless in place – the teak deck,” he mentioned.
“There's a beautiful captain's hall behind the ship. There are many weapons as a result of she's a warship.
“There's a whole lot of Royal Navy crockery in there. It's very fascinating. She was completely amazed that most of the portholes have been nonetheless open.”
Mr Mortimer mentioned there have been few vitamins within the seabed the place the ship was, which means the wreckage was not eaten by organisms.
He mentioned: “You possibly can look via portholes and see rooms with artefacts – teacups, bowls and plates on the ground.
“It's a really outstanding time capsule.”