Almost 85 years ago, more than 600 men lost their lives when a First World War ship went down off the coast of Scotland.

Now a team of Bradford divers has come face to face with the famous HMS Hampshire, which has lain at the bottom of the North Sea since it sank.

The divers, from the Duck and Dive Scuba Diving Centre in Shipley, are spending this week exploring the wreck, three miles fromScapa Flow, off the coast of the Orkney Islands.

The ship sank in May 1916, taking the lives of 643 men, including the famous war secretary Lord Kitchener, with her.

Now a designated war grave, the upturned ship is fully intact with all the war equipment, including weapons, it was carrying on its way from Britain to Russia when it was attacked by a German U-boat.

It was carrying Lord Kitchener, the then-Secretary of State for War, who was travelling to Russia to discuss war tactics. Lord Kitchener became famous when pictures of his face and pointed finger were used on war recruitment posters bearing the slogan "Your Country Needs You".

Kitchener was among the 655 on board - only 12 survived.

"The ship is just as it was when it went down," said diving team leader Gary Hudson.

"Because it's an official war grave nobody is allowed to enter it or move anything from it.

"But just going down there to see it will be a fascinating experience and I'm really looking forward to it.

"There have been artefacts removed and even stolen from the wreck in the past.

"The aim of our trip is to raise awareness of the need to respect war graves."

The Bradford diving team is also teaching deep sea diving techniques to a group of divers in the Orkneys.

"We'll be teaching the skippers of several diving vessels how to blend gas, to enable them to go deep sea diving," said Gary.

"To dive between 15 and 70 metres, you need to blend helium, oxygen and air. The blend, called a trimix, has to be used for deep sea diving to stop the air from turning toxic.

"Not all divers are qualified to blend gas. Because we are qualified we have been asked to go up there to pass on our expertise, and to have a look at the ship."

Gary and his team have taken bottles of helium and oxygen up to Scotland which will be blended using a compressor on the diving vessels.

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