HMS Drake was a 14100 LT (14,326.3 t) armoured cruiser

Armored cruiser

The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, the lead ship of her class

Drake class cruiser

The Drake-class was a four-ship class of armoured cruisers built around 1900 for the Royal Navy.-Design:The class were enlarged versions of the Cressy class.-History:The ships served in the First World War with only two surviving it...

. She was built at Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...

 and launched on 5 March 1901.

John Jellicoe

John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe

Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, GCB, OM, GCVO was a British Royal Navy admiral who commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in World War I...

, future First Sea Lord

First Sea Lord

The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...

 and commander at Jutland

Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...

 captained Drake in 1903-1904. Another notable figure who served aboard Drake was Humphrey T. Walwyn

Humphrey T. Walwyn

Vice-Admiral Sir Humphrey Thomas Walwyn, KCSI, KCMG, CB, DSO served most of his life in the Royal Navy, rising to the rank of Vice-Admiral and the command of the Royal Indian Navy from 1928, retiring in 1934....

, a future Vice Admiral

Vice Admiral

Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...

 of the Royal Indian Navy

Royal Indian Navy

The Royal Indian Navy was the naval force of British India. Along with the Presidency armies and the later British Indian Army it comprised the Armed Forces of British India....

, who served aboard her as a Gunnery Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

. At the time of her sinking, the Drake was commanded by Captain Stephen Herbert Radcliffe.

Drake served in the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and was torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

ed by the German submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 U-79

SM U-79

SM U-79 was one of the 329 submarines serving in the Kaiserliche Marine in World War I. U-79 was engaged in the naval warfare and took part in the First Battle of the Atlantic.- Operations :...

, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Otto Rohrbeck on 2 October 1917 in Rathlin Sound. Eighteen men, all serving in Boiler Room No. 2 were killed. Her wreck in Church Bay, Rathlin Island

Rathlin Island

Rathlin Island is an island off the coast of County Antrim, and is the northernmost point of Northern Ireland. Rathlin is the only inhabited offshore island in Northern Ireland, with a rising population of now just over 100 people, and is the most northerly inhabited island off the Irish coast...

, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland is a favourite site for divers.

In the 1990s the Royal Navy destroyed the wreck due to its unstable ammunition, and location near to Rathlin harbour being considered a hazard.