"At 7:40 pm a tremendous explosion ripped the cruiser apart as she ran full tilt into the minefield which Kurt Beitzen had laid almost a week earlier. The heavy seas destroyed any chance there may have been to save the ship and within minutes she had vanished completely. Only fourteen members of her crew reached the shore, everyone else was lost. Despite an intensive search no trace was ever found of Kitchener or any member of his staff. Britain's greatest army leader, a legend in his own lifetime, had fallen victim to the U-boats, his mission unaccomplished. Nothing could now save Russia from revolution and surrender."
-from Thè U-Boat War ( )