On 5th June 1916 warship HMS Hampshire struck a German mine off the coast of Orkney and sank with the loss of 737 men. Only 12 sailors survived.

This weekend commemorative events were held at Marwick Head, close to the site on which the ship sank, to mark the centenary of the loss and the deaths of so many men. The Orcadian published a report.

The wreck made national news at the time partly because of the presence on board of Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, travelling to Russia on a diplomatic mission to meet with Britain’s Russian allies.

After the war a memorial was constructed on the headland overlooking the sea, but it focused solely on Kitchener and was named after him. To mark the centenary, and respond to the need to commemorate all the men who died in the sinking, the memorial has been refurbished and a new wall built around it with plaques naming all the victims.

A Scotsman article reports that a book to be published later this year will offer fresh information about the history of the HMS Hampshire disaster.