The 7,700-ton Edgar-class protected cruiser HMS Hawke. Commissioned on 16 May 1893, Hawke was the only member of her 9-ship class to be lost in the Great War. IWM Q 39034
Lost in Waters Deep in conjunction with Buchan Divers and the dive vessel Clasina have found what they believe– and hope the Royal Navy will soon confirm– is the resting place of the long-lost Edgar-class protected cruiser HMS Hawke.
Sent to the bottom on 15 October 1914 by Kptlt. Otto Weddigen’s SM U-9 about 70 miles east of Fraserburgh in the North Sea, Hawke took 524 souls with her to the bottom.
Only 70 members of her crew survived the sinking.
German artistic impression of the sinking of HMS Hawke by Willy Stoewer 1914
U-9, fresh off sinking the “Live Bait Squadron” armoured cruisers HMS Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy, with almost 1,500 men sent to the bottom, left Hawke in much the same condition.
The Edgars were distinctive in the respect that they had two masts, two stacks, and two BL 9.2″/31.5 Mk VI guns– which the LiWD team was able to identify.
HMS Hawke’s 9-inch gun. Photo by Simon Kay
Side Scan image of HMS Hawke. C Max CM2 side scan 75m range 325 kHz
“On the 11th August 2024 a group of very experienced technical divers located and dived the wreck of HMS Hawke in 110m of water,” notes the group. The dive was conducted off the dive vessel Clasina.”
HMS Hawke team on DV Clasina
Reports say the wreck is in amazing condition, with lots of teak decking and Royal Navy crockery intact.
The same expedition also mapped SM U77 (Kptlt. Erich Günzel), which rests nearby. The UE-1 type was lost in July 1916 with all hands while laying mines off Kinnaird Head, Scotland.
And so we remember,