HMS E52

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History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameE52
Builder William Denny, Dumbarton
Yard number1048
Launched25 January 1917
Commissioned13 March 1917
FateSold, 3 January 1921
General characteristics
Class and type E-class submarine
Displacement
  • 662 long tons (673 t) surfaced
  • 807 long tons (820 t) submerged
Length181 ft (55 m)
Beam15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 × 800 hp (597 kW) diesel
  • 2 × 420 hp (313 kW) electric
  • 2 screw propellers
Speed
  • 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced
  • 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) submerged
Range
  • 3,000 nmi (5,600 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
  • 65 nmi (120 km) at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) surfaced
Complement31
Armament

HMS E52 was a British E-class submarine built by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, entering service in 1917. She sank the U-boat UC-63 near the Goodwin Sands on 1 November 1917. E52 was sold in 1921 and later hulked on the River Dart.

Contents

Design

Like all post-E8 British E-class submarines, E52 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) Ruston & Proctor eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two 420 horsepower (310 kW) electric motors. [2] [3] [4] 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] E52 was capable of operating submerged for five hours when travelling at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph).

E52 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]

Construction

E52 was ordered from Yarrow Shipbuilders, Scotstoun but transferred on 3 March 1915 to William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton as Yard No.1048. [5] [4] She was launched on 25 January 1917 and delivered on 13 March. [5] [4]

Service

On 31 October 1917, E52 left her depot ship HMS Arrogant to patrol in the English Channel. [6] Just after midnight she surprised the German U-boat UC-63 on the surface near the Goodwin Sands, in the southern North Sea, returning to Zeebrugge after laying mines. E52 attacked UC-63 in 51°23′N2°00′E / 51.383°N 2.000°E / 51.383; 2.000 , with torpedoes, and the German submarine sank with the loss of all-but-one of her 27 crew. [6] [7] As a result of this encounter, Lt. Cdr. Philip Esmonde Phillips of E52 was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for "services in action with enemy submarines". [8]

Fate

E52 was sold on 3 January 1921 to Brixham Marine & Engineering Company. [5] The submarine was stripped and taken to the River Dart and lay on the shore with other vessels, below the Britannia Royal Naval College. [6] They were believed to have been utilised to strengthen a bank in Coombe Mud, and then buried in the land reclamation to create Coronation Park. [6] [8] A team from the University of Winchester is investigating the site in April 2023, using ground-penetrating radar. [9] In June 2023, it was announced that the team had found remains of what they believed was E52 and the German torpedo boat S24. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>E7</i> Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS E7 was a British E class submarine built at Chatham Dockyard. She was laid down on 30 March 1912 and was commissioned on 16 March 1914. She cost £105,700.

HMS L54 was a late-model L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. The boat was not completed before the end of the war and was sold for scrap in 1939.

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 <i>E24</i> Submarine of the Royal Navy

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 <i>E55</i> Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS E55 was a British E-class submarine built by William Denny, Dumbarton as Yard No.1032. She was launched on 5 February 1916 and was delivered on 25 March 1916. E55 was sold for scrap at Newcastle on 6 September 1922.

HMS E54 was a British E-class submarine built by William Beardmore, Dalmuir. She was laid down on 1 February 1915 and was commissioned in May 1916. She sank the German submarines UC-10 on 21 August 1916 and U-81 on 1 May 1917. E54 was sold for scrap on 14 December 1921.

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 <i>E20</i> Submarine of the Royal Navy

HMS E20 was a British E-class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 25 November 1914 and was commissioned on 30 August 1915. She was sunk, torpedoed by UB-14, on 6 November 1915.

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 <i>E50</i> Submarine of the Royal Navy

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 <i>E49</i> Submarine of the Royal Navy

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.

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 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 <i>E34</i> Submarine of the Royal Navy

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 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 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.

SM UC-26 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 29 August 1915 and was launched on 22 June 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 18 July 1916 as SM UC-26. In nine patrols UC-26 was credited with sinking 39 ships, either by torpedo or by mines laid. On 16 February 1917, SM UC-26 was rammed by the Royal Naval vessel Mona's Queen near Le Harve. The submarine was hit by the port paddlebox of the Mona's Queen, with her steel paddle floats severely damaging the submarine's bow. UC-26 was ultimately rammed and sunk by HMS Milne off Calais on 8 May 1917.

SM UC-62 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 12 January 1916, laid down on 3 April 1916, and was launched on 9 December 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 8 January 1917 as SM UC-62. In nine patrols UC-62 was credited with sinking 11 ships, either by torpedo or by mines laid. On 19 March 1917, the submerged Royal Navy submarine HMS E50 suffered damage in a collision UC-62 in the North Sea off the North Hinder Light Vessel. UC-62 struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off Zeebrugge, Belgium, on 14 October 1917.

SM UC-63 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 12 January 1916, laid down on 3 April 1916, and was launched on 6 January 1917. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 30 January 1917 as SM UC-63. In nine patrols UC-63 was credited with sinking 36 ships, either by torpedo or by mines laid. UC-63 was torpedoed and sunk by HMS E52 off Goodwin Sands on 1 November 1917; only one crewman survived the sinking.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Innes McCartney; Tony Bryan (20 February 2013). British Submarines of World War I. Osprey Publishing. pp. 11–12. ISBN   978-1-4728-0035-0.
  2. 1 2 Akerman, P. (1989). Encyclopaedia of British submarines 1901–1955. 149–150. Maritime Books. ISBN   1-904381-05-7
  3. ↑ "E Class". Chatham Submarines. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Lyon, David John (1975). The Denny List - Part III. Greenwich: National Maritime Museum.
  5. 1 2 3 Colledge, J. J. (1969). Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index - Vol.1. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 180.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "IWM Photographic Memories" (PDF). Navy News (760). Portsmouth: Ministry of Defence: 12. November 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: UC 63". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  8. 1 2 "Naval officer 'solves' 90-year mystery of the 'submarine in the park' in Devon town". Royal Navy. Ministry of Defence. 13 October 2022. Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  9. ↑ Truksa, Joshua (15 April 2023). "University of Winchester experts hunt for submarine beneath park". Hampshire Chronicle. Winchester. Archived from the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  10. ↑ "Scientists 'find' WW1 Royal Navy submarine in Dartmouth park". Royal Navy. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  11. ↑ Minchin, Rod (30 June 2023). "Scientists 'unearth' submarine buried under naval town's park". The Independent . Retrieved 30 June 2023.

Bibliography

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