Author Topic: HM Submarine E1 (1912 - 1918)  (Read 1903 times)

Offline stuartwaters

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HM Submarine E1 (1912 - 1918)
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2019, 06:44:02 PM »

HMS E1 was the lead boat of the E Class and was built at Chatham just before the outbreak of the First World War.


The E Class were an improved and enlarged version of the previous D Class. They were the most numerous type of British submarine during that war and formed the backbone of the British submarine fleet until they were replaced at the end of the war by the L class. The main improvement, apart from being bigger, was the inclusion for the first time in a British submarine, of watertight bulkheads. Their increased range meant that they were able to operate in all the main theatres of WW1.


HMS E1 was laid down on No 7 slip on Valentines Day 1911 and was launched into the Medway on 9th November 1912 by Mrs Anson, wife of the Admiral Superintendant, Rear-Admiral Charles E Anson. After fitting out at Chatham, she commissioned on 6th May 1913.


Model of an E Class submarine





A Cutaway drawing of an E Class submarine:





At the outbreak of the First World War, she was at Harwich, part of 8th Submarine Flotilla. In company with her sister-boats, she scouted the entrance to the Baltic Sea as a prelude to sending a submarine force to penetrate the German defences and operate in the Baltic.


On 15th October, HMS E1 in company with HMS E9 successfully penetrated the German defences in the Skagerrak and entered the Baltic Sea. Three days later, she unsuccessfully attacked the German Armoured Cruiser KMS Furst Bismarck in Kiel Bay.


On 19th August 1915, HMS E1 torpedoed and damaged the German battlecruiser KMS Moltke.


HMS E1 at sea





In April 1918, German forces successfully intervened in the Finnish Civil War. This left the Royal Navy's Baltic Sea Submarine force in an untenable position, so the majority of British submarines in the area were scuttled to prevent their capture by the Germans. HMS E1 was scuttled by her crew on 3rd April 1918 off Helsinki.
"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.