Lord Kitchener sailed from Scrabster to Scapa Flow on 5 June 1916 aboard HMS "Oak" before transferring to the armoured cruiser HMS "Hampshire" for his diplomatic mission to Russia. At the last minute, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe changed the "Hampshire's" route on the basis of a mis-reading of the weather forecast and ignoring (or not being aware of) recent intelligence and sightings of German U-boat activity in the vicinity of the amended route. Shortly before 19:30 hrs the same day, steaming for the Russian port of Arkhangelsk during a Force 9 gale, "Hampshire" struck a mine laid by the newly launched German U-boat "U-75" (commanded by Kurt Beitzen) and sank west of the Orkney Islands. Recent research has set the death toll of those aboard the "Hampshire" at 737. Only twelve men survived. Amongst the dead were all ten members of his entourage. Kitchener was seen standing on the quarterdeck during the approximately twenty minutes that it took the ship to sink. His body was never recovered.