Several days later, on 5 June, she was sailing to Arkhangelsk, Russia, carrying the Secretary of State for War, Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, when she is believed to have struck a mine laid by a German submarine.

She was powered by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which produced a total of 21,000 indicated horsepower (16,000 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph).

[2] Her main armament consisted of four breech-loading (BL) 7.5-inch (191 mm) Mk I guns mounted in four single-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and one on each side.

During the battle, she was never actually engaged and only fired four salvos at the German II Scouting Group that fell well short of their targets, in addition to shooting at illusory submarine periscopes throughout the day.

[13] Immediately after the battle, she was ordered to carry Lord Kitchener from Scapa Flow on a diplomatic mission to Russia via the port of Arkhangelsk.

Due to the gale-force conditions, it was decided that Hampshire would sail through the Pentland Firth, then turn north along the western coast of the Orkney Islands.

She departed Scapa Flow at 16:45 and about an hour later rendezvoused with her two escorts, the Acasta-class destroyers Unity and Victor.

As it was considered unlikely that enemy submarines would be active in such conditions, Hampshire's Captain Savill ordered Unity and Victor to return to Scapa Flow.

[14] Sailing alone in heavy seas, Hampshire was approximately 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km; 1.7 mi) off Mainland in the Orkney Islands between Brough of Birsay and Marwick Head at 19:40 on 5 June when an explosion occurred and she heeled to starboard.

The detonation had holed the cruiser between bows and bridge, and the lifeboats were smashed against the side of the ship by the heavy seas when they were lowered.

[19] Fritz Joubert Duquesne – a Boer and German spy – claimed to have assumed the identity of Russian Count Boris Zakrevsky and joined Kitchener in Scotland.

Duquesne supposedly signalled a German U-boat shortly after departing Scapa Flow to alert them that Kitchener's ship was approaching.

[20] In the 1930s and 1940s, he ran the Duquesne Spy Ring and was captured by the FBI along with 32 other Nazi agents in the largest espionage conviction in U.S.

The Kitchener Memorial is a square, crenellated stone tower with the following inscription:[25] This tower was raised by the people of Orkney in memory of Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum on that corner of his country which he had served so faithfully nearest to the place where he died on duty.