Hawke was not zigzagging when the squadron received warning of a submarine attack. One torpedo from U-9 caused a rapid capsize, leaving only about seventy survivors and killing roughly 524 officers and men. The ship had been designed when torpedoes were mainly short-range surface weapons and submarines were still immature. The disaster may reflect both those older compartmentation assumptions and open internal fittings that accelerated flooding.
Chapter · 16:35-18:53
U-9 sinks HMS Hawke in the North Sea
Hawke's rapid loss to a single U-9 torpedo reveals the gap between an 1890s cruiser design and the submarine threat of 1914.