The A class was the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

's first

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

of British-designed

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s. Thirteen were built by

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

between 1902 and 1905 as an improvement on the US . A class submarines

Design and construction

While there was considerable variation amongst the boats of the class, they were around 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 Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

engines of (''A1''), (''A2-A4'') or (''A5''-''A12''). ''A13'' had an experimental

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

, which proved to be unreliable.

Armaments

Armament was two 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 Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

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 Whitsand Bay, situated in south east Cornwall, England, 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 t ...

in 1914 after diving into mud. ''A13'' was laid up in 1914 due to engine unreliability. The remainder were used during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

for harbour defence, ''A2'' and ''A4'', ''A5'' and ''A6'' at

, ''A8'' and ''A9'' at Devonport, and ''A10'', ''A11'' and ''A12'' at

Ardrossan Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the 'Three Towns'. Ardrossan is located on the east shore ...

. 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.

Notes

References

External links

MaritimeQuest A Class Overview
{{DEFAULTSORT:A Class Submarine (1903) A class submarine (1903), British