22-07-2025
Divers find wreckage of WW1 warship off Scottish coast 109 years after sinking
A team of ten divers from ProjectXplore identified the wreck 60 miles off the Scottish coast at a depth of 82 metres.
The wreckage of HMS Nottingham, a Royal Navy warship lost during the First World War, has been discovered in the North Sea more than a century after it was torpedoed by a German U-boat.
A team of ten divers from ProjectXplore, an international group dedicated to locating historically significant shipwrecks around the UK, identified the wreck 60 miles off the Scottish coast at a depth of 82 metres. The vessel had remained undiscovered for 109 years.
ProjectXplore confirmed the warship's identity through a combination of distinctive features and artefacts found at the site.
Divers recovered white dinner plates bearing a Royal Navy blue crown emblem, and spotted the word "Nottingham" embossed on the stern. The ship's dimensions, structure, and visible damage matched historical records of the sinking.
The team said they had "no doubt" the wreck was HMS Nottingham, citing the ship's name stamp, size, equipment, and condition, which aligned with reports from the time of the attack.
Built for the Royal Navy shortly before the outbreak of war, HMS Nottingham was a 457-foot Town-class light cruiser and part of the Birmingham sub-class.
She was completed in early 1914 and served in the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron (LCS) of both the Home and Grand Fleets throughout her career.
Nottingham took part in several major naval engagements in the early years of the war, including the battles of Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank and Jutland. The cruiser helped to sink multiple German vessels during those confrontations.
The ship met her fate on August 19, 1916 during the so-called Action of 19 August, when she was struck by three torpedoes fired by the German submarine U-52.
The attack occurred while Nottingham was on a reconnaissance mission. Although the enemy vessel had been spotted earlier that morning, it was mistakenly identified by a crew member as a small fishing boat.
Thirty-eight sailors were killed in the attack. Among the casualties, thirty-one are commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, two on the Chatham Naval Memorial, and two on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. Three bodies were later recovered from the sea and are buried in cemeteries in the UK and Norway.
Captain Charles B. Miller, 20 officers, and 357 crew members survived the sinking, having been rescued by two Royal Navy destroyers that responded to the distress.
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Despite multiple efforts to locate HMS Nottingham over the past century, previous searches had all failed.
ProjectXplore began its investigation in September 2024, starting with an intensive review of original sources, including ship logs, telegrams and naval charts.
By April 2025, the team had surveyed a potential area of interest using sonar equipment, detecting a wreck that matched the dimensions, layout and orientation of HMS Nottingham.
A diving expedition three months later allowed the team to confirm the ship's identity.
