HMS G3 was a G Class patrol submarine built at Chatham during the First World War.
The G Class were intended to be improvements over the highly successful E Class. Of similar size to the E-class, they did feature a number of improvements, including the luxury of an electric oven in the galley! They were of a double-hull design in that the ballast tanks were in the gap between an inner pressure hull and the outer hull. This made for a more streamlined and stronger hull, but made the boats complex, more time-consuming and therefore more expensive to built. The result of this was that compared to the 58 E Class boats completed, only 14 G Class submarines were built.
The G Class Submarine
She was laid down on No 7 Slip on 1st October 1914 and was built alongside her sister-boat HMS G2. HMS G3 was launched into the River Medway on 22nd January 1916 by Mrs Erskine. After fitting out, she was commissioned at Chatham on 13th April.
HMS G3 fitting out at Chatham in 1916.
HMS G3 at sea
HMS G3 had a quiet time in the First World War patrolling the North Sea and lying in wait for U-Boats returning from the Western Approaches. Come the end of the First World War, G3 was surplus to requirements and was decommissioned.
HMS G3 was sold to Youngs in Sunderland for scrapping on 4th November 1921. The real drama in the short life of this submarine came as she was on her way to the breakers. In December 1921, whilst being towed to the breakers, she broke free from her tow and after drifting, came ashore at Scalby Mills, on the Yorkshire Coast north of Scarborough. While at Scalby Mills, she aroused a huge amount of interest from the locals and a number of complaints were made to the Chief Constable about people looting the wreck. She later broke free of the shore and drifted out to sea again before going aground bow first under Buckley Cliffs in Filey Bay.
At this point, a local man acquired the salvage rights and began to strip the wreck, hauling parts of the submarine up sheer cliffs with ropes and pulleys.
Wreck of HMS G3 in Filey Bay in the 1930s
The wreck is still visible at low tide. The remains of about 60 feet of the lower hull and parts of the diesel engines and drive gear still remain in place.
Remains of HMS G3
