Just days after the cataclysmic Battle of Jutland the Devonshire Class Cruiser HMS Hampshire sets sail from Scapa Flow bound for Archangel in the north of Russia. On board is Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War. His mission is to meet with the Tsar and find ways of helping to keep Russia in the war, and thousands of German troops tied up in the East. Inexplicably whilst still off The Orkney Islands the Hampshire explodes and sinks within minutes. Only 12 survivors are recovered. Army Captain John Cook and his assistant Corporal Matthew Nicholson are dispatched at one to try and find out the fate of Britains best known soldier and the armed warship that carried him.