History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | E49 |
Builder | Swan Hunter, Wallsend |
Laid down | 15 February 1915 |
Launched | 18 September 1916 |
Commissioned | 14 December 1916 |
Fate | Mined, 12 March 1917 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | E-class submarine |
Displacement |
|
Length | 181 ft (55 m) |
Beam | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed |
|
Range |
|
Complement | 30 |
Armament |
|
HMS E49 was an E-class submarine built by Swan Hunter, Wallsend for the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 15 February 1915 and was commissioned on 14 December 1916. E49 was mined off the Shetland Islands on 12 March 1917. The minefield was laid by the German U-boat UC-76 on 10 March 1917. There were no survivors. E49 lies 96 ft (29 m) down with her bows blown off.
Like all post-E8 British E-class submarines, E49 had a displacement of 662 long tons (673 t) at the surface and 807 long tons (820 t) while submerged. She had a total length of 180 feet (55 m) [1] and a beam of 22 feet 8.5 inches (6.922 m). She was powered by two 800 horsepower (600 kW) Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two 420 horsepower (310 kW) electric motors. [2] [3] The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) and a submerged speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). British E-class submarines had fuel capacities of 50 long tons (51 t) of diesel and ranges of 3,255 miles (5,238 km; 2,829 nmi) when travelling at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). [1] E49 was capable of operating submerged for five hours when travelling at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph).
E49 was armed with a 12-pounder 76 mm (3.0 in) QF gun mounted forward of the conning tower. She had five 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, two in the bow, one either side amidships, and one in the stern; a total of 10 torpedoes were carried. [2]
E-Class submarines had wireless systems with 1 kilowatt (1.3 hp) power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to 3 kilowatts (4.0 hp) systems by removing a midship torpedo tube. Their maximum design depth was 100 feet (30 m) although in service some reached depths of below 200 feet (61 m). Some submarines contained Fessenden oscillator systems. [1]
A memorial to the 31 submariners lost in the sinking of E49 was unveiled in Baltasound, Unst, on 12 March 2017. The memorial was organised by retired local police constable Harry Edwards. The unveiling was attended by members of the crew of Royal Navy submarine HMS Vengeance (S31) and descendants of E49 First officer Basil Beal and second-in-command Reay Parkinson. [4]
HMS E51 was a British E-class submarine built originally from Yarrow, Scotstoun, but transferred to Scotts, Greenock on 3 March 1915. HMS E51 was launched on 30 November 1916 and commissioned on 27 January 1917. E51 was sold for scrap on 13 October 1921.
HMS E10 was a British E class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 10 July 1912 and was commissioned on 10 March 1914. She costed £105,700. E10 was lost in the North Sea on or around 18 January 1915.
HMS E24 was an E-class submarine of the Royal Navy built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched on 9 December 1915 and was commissioned on 9 January 1916. E24 was a mine-laying submarine.
HMS E16 was an E-class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness for the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 15 May 1913 and was commissioned on 27 February 1915. Her hull cost £105,700. E16 was the first E-class to sink a U-boat, U-6, sunk 4 mi (6.4 km) south-west of Karmøy island off Stavanger, Norway on 15 September 1915. E16 was sunk by a mine in Heligoland Bight on 22 August 1916. There were no survivors.
HMS E22 was a British E-class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 27 August 1914 and was commissioned on 8 November 1915.
HMS E50 was a British E-class submarine built by John Brown, Clydebank. She was launched on 13 November 1916 and was commissioned on 23 January 1917. E50 was damaged in a collision with the Imperial German Navy submarine UC-62 while submerged in the North Sea off the North Hinder Light Vessel on 19 March 1917. E 50 was lost on 1 February 1918, and it was earlier believed that she struck a mine in the North Sea off the South Dogger Light Vessel. In 2011 the wreck was found by a Danish Expedition much closer to the Danish coast, 65 NM west of Nymindegab.
HMS E48 was a British E-class submarine launched by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan in 1916 and was completed by William Beardmore and Company, Dalmuir. She was launched on 2 August 1916 and was commissioned in February 1917.
HMS E25 was a British E-class submarine built by William Beardmore and Company, Dalmuir. She was, along with the future E26, one of a pair of submarines ordered by the Ottoman Navy on 29 April 1914, but was taken over by the Royal Navy and assigned the E25 name. She was laid down in November 1914, launched on 23 August 1915, and was commissioned on 4 October 1915. HMS E25 was sold on 14 December 1921.
HMS E27 was a British E-class submarine built by Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun. She was launched on 9 June 1917 and commissioned in August 1917. HMS E27 was sold to John Cashmore Ltd in Newport for scrapping on 6 September 1922.
HMS E32 was a British E-class submarine built by J. Samuel White, Cowes, Isle of Wight. She was launched on 16 August 1916 and commissioned in October 1916. HMS E32 was sold in Sunderland on 6 September 1922.
HMS E33 was a British E-class submarine built by John Thornycroft, Woolston, Hampshire. She was launched on 18 April 1916 and was commissioned in November 1916. E33 was sold to John Cashmore Ltd for scrapping at their yard in Newport on 6 September 1922.
HMS E34 was a British E-class submarine built by John Thornycroft, Woolston, Hampshire. She was launched on 27 January 1917 and commissioned in March 1917. HMS E34 sank the U-boat UB-16 off Harwich in the North Sea on 10 May 1918. E34 was mined near the Eijerlandse Gronden, the sands between the Frisian islands Texel and Vlieland on 20 July 1918. There were no survivors.
HMS E47 was an E-class submarine launched by Fairfield, Govan for the Royal Navy and completed by William Beardmore, Dalmuir. She was launched on 29 May 1916 and was commissioned in October 1916.
HMS E46 was a British E-class submarine built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She was launched on 4 April 1916 and was commissioned in October 1916. HMS E46 was sold in South Wales on 6 September 1922.
HMS E35 was a British E-class submarine built by John Brown, Clydebank. She was launched on 20 May 1916 and commissioned on 14 July 1917. E35 sank U-154 off the island of Madeira on 11 May 1918. This sinking was helped by British intelligence who had learned of a planned rendezvous between two U-boats off Cape St Vincent. E35 was sold in Newcastle on 6 September 1922.
HMS E36 was an E-class submarine built by John Brown, Clydebank for the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 7 January 1915 and was commissioned on 16 November 1916.
HMS E37 was a British E-class submarine built by Fairfield, Govan, Clyde. She was launched on 2 September 1915 and commissioned on 17 March 1916. E37 was lost in the North Sea on 1 December 1916. There were no survivors.
HMS E41 was a British E-class submarine built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She was laid down on 26 July 1915 and was commissioned in February 1916.
HMS E43 was a British E-class submarine built by Swan Hunter, Wallsend. She was laid down on 22 December 1914 and was commissioned on 20 February 1916. On 19 January 1917 E43 collided with E36 off Harwich in the North Sea; E36 sank with all hands. E43 was sold on 3 January 1921 but became stranded under tow west off St Agnes Head, Cornwall on 25 November 1921.
HMS E45 was a British E-class submarine built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She was launched on 25 January 1916 and was commissioned in August 1916. E45 torpedoed U-boat UC-62 in the North Sea on 15 October 1917. E45 was sold in South Wales on 6 September 1922.