Author Topic: HM Submarine G2 (1915 - 1920)  (Read 1528 times)

Offline stuartwaters

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HM Submarine G2 (1915 - 1920)
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2019, 08:55:29 PM »

HMS G2 was a Chatham-built G Class submarine which served during the First World War.


She was laid down on No 7 slip on 1st October 1914 and was launched into the Medway by Miss Callaghan on 23rd December 1915. After fitting out, she commissioned on 18th March 1916.


The G Class were intended to be an improvement over the highly successful E Class, but being a double-hulled submarine, they were more complex, time-consuming and expensive to build than the saddle-tank based E-Class. They did feature improvements over the E-class however. The double hull gave them more internal space and they gave the crew the luxury of an electric oven in the galley for the first time. They were also the first British submarines to carry a 21" torpedo tube, albeit in the stern.


On completion, HMS G2 was 186ft long and 22ft 8in wide across the beam. She displaced 693 tons surfaced and 873 tons dived. She was armed with 4 18" torpedo tubes, 2 in the bow and 1 on either beam. As well as these, she carried a 21" torpedo tube in the stern, a 3" deck gun forward and a 2pdr gun aft. She had a crew of 31.


HMS G9 at Scapa Flow. G2 would have been identical.





Line drawing of the G Class:





HMS G2 spent the First World War at Blythe, as part of 11th Submarine Flotilla. She did claim an important scalp in her career. On 27th October 1918, HMS G2 was patrolling in the Skagerrak between Denmark, Norway and Sweden when she detected low frequency communications emanating from what turned out to be the German minelaying submarine U-78. After manoeuvring into position, she torpedoed U-78, destroying the German boat with all hands.


By the end of the First World War in November 1918, submarine technology had moved so far and so fast that even though the boat was only three years old, she was obsolete and was decommissioned. She was sold for scrap to Fryers of Sunderland on 16th January 1920.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.