A-class submarine (1903)

Last updated

Hms a1 submarine.jpg
Class overview
Name: A class
Builders: Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness
Operators:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Royal Navy
Preceded by: Hollandclass
Succeeded by: B class
Completed: 13
General characteristics (A8–A13) [1]
Type: Submarine
Displacement:
  • 190 tons surfaced
  • 207 tons submerged
Length: 105 ft 0 1⁄2 in (32.02 m)
Beam: 12 ft 8 3⁄4 in (3.88 m)
Draught: 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m) surfaced
Propulsion:
  • 16 cylinder Wolseley 600  hp (450  kW) petrol engine
  • 150 hp (110 kW) electric motor
Speed:
  • 11 1⁄2 kn (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) surfaced
  • 6 kn (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) dived
Complement: 11
Armament: 2 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes (bow, four torpedoes)

The A class was the Royal Navy's first class of British-designed submarines. Thirteen were built by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness between 1902 and 1905 as an improvement on the US Plungerclass.

Royal Navy Maritime warfare branch of the United Kingdoms military

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years War against the Kingdom of France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is known as the Senior Service.

Ship class group of ships of a similar design

A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. This is distinct from a ship type, which might reflect a similarity of tonnage or intended use. For example, USS Carl Vinson is a nuclear aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class.

Submarine Watercraft capable of independent operation underwater

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. It is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine and the wet sub.

Contents

A-class submarines moored in port A class submarines.jpg
A-class submarines moored in port
HMS A13 model HMS A13 model.jpg
HMS A13 model

Design and construction

While there was considerable variation amongst the boats of the class, they were around 100 feet (30 m) long and displaced around 200 tons when submerged. The first, A1 (ordered as Holland No. 6), was launched in July 1902, the last, A13, in April 1905.

Propulsion

All were propelled underwater by battery-powered electric motors and on the surface by shaft-drive Wolseley petrol engines of 400  bhp (300 kW) (A1), 450 bhp (340 kW) (A2-A4) or 600 bhp (450 kW) (A5-A12). A13 had an experimental 500 bhp (370 kW) Vickers diesel engine, which proved to be unreliable.

Wolseley Motors

Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers armaments combine in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range topped by large luxury cars and dominated the market in the Edwardian era. The Vickers brothers died and without their guidance Wolseley expanded rapidly after the war, manufacturing 12,000 cars in 1921, and remained the biggest motor manufacturer in Britain.

Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.

Diesel engine Internal combustion engine with quality rotational frequency governing, internal mixture formation, lean air-fuel-ratio, diffusion flame and compression ignition

The Diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber, is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to the mechanical compression. Diesel engines work by compressing only the air. This increases the air temperature inside the cylinder to such a high degree that atomised Diesel fuel injected into the combustion chamber ignites spontaneously. With the fuel being injected into the air just before combustion, the dispersion of the fuel is uneven; this is called a heterogenous air-fuel mixture. The process of mixing air and fuel happens almost entirely during combustion, the oxygen diffuses into the flame, which means that the Diesel engine operates with a diffusion flame. The torque a Diesel engine produces is controlled by manipulating the air ratio; this means, that instead of throttling the intake air, the Diesel engine relies on altering the amount of fuel that is injected, and the air ratio is usually high.

Armaments

Armament was two 18-inch (46 cm) torpedo tubes with four torpedoes except for A1, which had 1 tube and 3 torpedoes.

Service history

This submarine class was plagued by numerous accidents and failures; almost every boat in the class (A1, A3, A4, A5, A7, and A8) was involved in some sort of accident over the course of their operational history. Many were fatal to the crew, and resulted in the decommissioning of the submarine. A1 was sunk off Portsmouth on 18 March 1904, in collision with the liner Berwick Castle, but raised and put back into service before finally being sunk as a naval gunnery target in 1911, followed in 1912 by A3. A7 was lost in Whitsand Bay in 1914 after diving into mud. A13 was laid up in 1914 due to engine unreliability.

Portsmouth City & unitary authority area in England

Portsmouth is a port city in Hampshire, England, with a total population of 205,400 residents. The city of Portsmouth is nicknamed Pompey and is mainly built on Portsea Island, a flat, low-lying island measuring 24 square kilometres in area, just off the south-east coast of Hampshire. Uniquely, Portsmouth is the only island city in the United Kingdom, and is the only city whose population density exceeds that of London.

Whitsand Bay

Whitsand Bay, situated in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom runs from Rame Head in the east to Portwrinkle in the west. It is characterised by sheer, high cliffs, dramatic scenery and long stretches of sandy beaches. The South West Coast Path runs the length of the bay.

The remainder were used during World War I for harbour defence, A2 and A4, A5 and A6 at Portsmouth, A8 and A9 at Devonport, and A10, A11 and A12 at Ardrossan. All survived the war and were converted to training in 1918 and sold in 1919–1920 except for A2, which was wrecked while awaiting disposal and finally sold in 1925.

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

HMNB Devonport operating base in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy

Her Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport, is the largest naval base in Western Europe and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Royal Navy.

Ardrossan town in Scotland

Ardrossan is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. Although there are high levels of deprivation around the town centre of Ardrossan, the town is gentrifying but with some suburban developments around the outskirts of the town. The town has a population of roughly 11,000 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston. Ardrossan is located on the east shore of the Firth of Clyde.

Notes

  1. ↑ Gardiner and Gray 1985, p. 86.

Related Research Articles

HMS A2 was an A-class submarine built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

HMS <i>A3</i> A-class submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS A3 was an A-class submarine built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

HMS A5 was an early Royal Navy submarine. She was a member of Group Two of the first British A class of submarines. Like all members of her class, she was built at Vickers Barrow-in-Furness.

HMS <i>A11</i>

HMS A11 was an A-class submarine built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. After surviving World War I, she was sold for scrap in 1920.

HMS <i>D2</i> D-class submarine

HMS D2 was one of eight D-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the first decade of the 20th century.

HMS <i>C11</i>

HMS C11 was one of 38 C-class submarines built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. The boat was lost after being rammed in 1909.

<i>Pathfinder</i>-class cruiser

The Pathfinder-class cruiser was a pair of scout cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Both ships participated in World War I; one ship was sunk shortly after the war began, but the other survived the war and was scrapped shortly after its end.

HMS Star was a Palmer three-funnel, 30-knot destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1896–1897 Naval Estimates. She was the eleventh ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1643 for a 19-gun ship sold until 1652.

HMS B2 was one of 11 B-class submarines built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

HMS B3 was one of 11 B-class submarines built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. The boat survived the First World War and was sold for scrap in 1919.

HMS <i>B4</i>

HMS B4 was one of 11 B-class submarines built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. The boat survived the First World War and was sold for scrap in 1919.

HMS <i>B5</i>

HMS B5 was one of 11 B-class submarines built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She survived World War I and was sold for scrap in 1921.

HMS <i>B6</i>

HMS B6 was one of 11 B-class submarines built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. The boat survived the First World War and was sold for scrap in 1921.

SM <i>U-23</i> (Austria-Hungary)

SM U-23 or U-XXIII was a U-20-class submarine or U-boat built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy during the First World War. The design for U-23 was based on submarines of the Royal Danish Navy's Havmanden class, and was largely obsolete by the beginning of the war.

The Pegaso class was a class of 18 Italian sea-going steam-powered torpedo boats built between 1904 and 1909. They served in the Italo-Turkish War and the First World War, when one was sunk, and continued in use until the 1920s.

<i>Nembo</i>-class destroyer

The Nembo class was a class of destroyer of the Italian Regia Marina. Six destroyers were built by the Pattison shipyard of Naples between 1899 and 1905, to a design based on the contemporary destroyers of the British shipyard Thornycroft. They were active in the Italo-Turkish War and in the First World War, where three were lost.

HMS <i>Jason</i> (1892)

HMS Jason was a Alarm-class torpedo gunboat of the British Royal Navy. She was built by the Naval Construction & Engineering Co. from 1891–1893. She was converted to a minesweeper in 1908–1909 and continued these duties during the First World War. Speedy was sunk by a German mine on 7 April 1917.

HMS TB 12 was a Cricket-class coastal destroyer or torpedo-boat of the British Royal Navy. TB 12 was built by the shipbuilder Yarrow from 1905 to 1907. She was used for local patrol duties in the First World War and was sunk by a German mine in the North Sea on 10 June 1915.

HMS TB 13 was a Cricket-class coastal destroyer or torpedo-boat of the British Royal Navy. TB 13 was built by the shipbuilder J S White from 1907 to 1908. She was used for local patrol duties in the First World War and was sunk following a collision on 26 January 1916.

The TB 114-class was a class of four 160-foot torpedo boats built for the British Royal Navy in 1903–1905 by the shipbuilder J. Samuel White. All four ships served in local defence flotillas during the First World War, with one of the ships being sunk in 1918. The remaining three ships were withdrawn from use after the end of the war, with the last of the class sold for scrap in 1921.

References

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.