HMS Hawke was sunk by a U Boat - On this day in Scottish history

The British warship HMS Hawke was sunk off the north-east coast of Scotland by a U-Boat on 15 October 1914. The ship's magazine was hit by a torpedo from the German U-Boat U9 and sank within eight minutes with the loss of 524 men - only seventy of the crew survived.

HMS Hawke was built at the Chatham Dockyard and launched in 1891. She was an Edgar-class protected cruiser that saw service as a troopship in the Mediterranean, transporting Greek servicemen and later hit the headlines when she was involved in a serious collision with the passenger liner Olympic in 1911, which ripped open her prow.

QUICK LINK: Scottish women of World War I