HMS ''E1'' (laid down as HMS ''D9'') was a British E-class submarine that was built by Chatham Dockyard and cost £101,700. ''E1'' was laid down on 14 February 1911. She was launched on 9 November 1912 and was commissioned on 6 May 1913. 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 ...

she was part of the

British submarine flotilla in the Baltic A British submarine flotilla operated in the Baltic Sea for three years during the First World War. The squadron of nine submarines was attached to the Russian Baltic Fleet. The main task of the flotilla was to prevent the import of iron ore f ...

Design

The early British E-class submarines, from ''E1'' to ''E8'', had a displacement of at the surface and while submerged. They had a length overall of and a beam of , and were powered by two Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two electric motors.Akerman, P. (1989). ''Encyclopaedia of British submarines 1901–1955''. p.150. Maritime Books. The class had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of , with a fuel capacity of of diesel affording a range of when travelling at , while submerged they had a range of at . The early 'Group 1' ''E'' class boats were armed with four 18 inch (450 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s, one in the bow, one either side amidships, and one in the stern; a total of eight torpedoes were carried. Group 1 boats were not fitted with a deck gun during construction, but those involved in the Dardanelles campaign had guns mounted forward of the conning tower while at Malta Dockyard. E-Class submarines had wireless systems with power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to systems by removing a midship torpedo tube. Their maximum design depth was although in service some reached depths of below . Some submarines contained

Fessenden oscillator A Fessenden oscillator is an electro-acoustic transducer invented by Reginald Fessenden, with development starting in 1912 at the Submarine Signal Company of Boston. It was the first successful acoustical echo ranging device. Similar in operating ...

systems.

Crew

Her complement was three officers and 28 men.

Service history

''E1'' joined the 8th Submarine Flotilla, based at

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 commissioning. Horton Lawrence

She worked with and reconnoitered the Skagerrak in early October as a prelude to sending submarines into the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

. Then on 15 October 1914, she and sailed from Gorleston in a successful attempt to penetrate the German defences and enter the Baltic. On 18 October 1914, ''E1'' unsuccessfully attacked the

armoured cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast eno ...

in Kiel Bay. The torpedo ran too deep and missed. On 22 July 1915, ''E1'' fired two torpedoes at the German ''

Vorpostenboot ''Vorpostenboot'' (plural ''Vorpostenboote''), also referred to as VP-Boats, flakships or outpost boats, were German patrol boats which served during both World Wars. They were used around coastal areas and in coastal operations, and were tasked w ...

'' (or patrol boat) ''Neumühlen'', which missed. On 30 July 1915, she torpedoed and sank the German auxilary minesweeper ''

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

'' east-northeast of Östergarn,

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

, Sweden.Rollmann 1929, pp. 227–228 On 19 August 1915, she torpedoed and damaged the German

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...

(23,000 tons) during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga. ''E1''s service ended on 3 April 1918 outside Helsingfors (now

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

), off

Harmaja Harmaja ( sv, Gråhara) is an island and a lighthouse outside Helsinki, south of the Suomenlinna sea fortress. The island has been functioning as a landmark since the 16th century. A landmark structure was built on the island in the 18th century ...

Light in the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...

. She was scuttled by her crew, along with , , , , , and to avoid seizure by advancing German forces which had landed nearby.

Notes

References

* * * * *
E 1
in hylyt.net

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Finnish Navy in World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:E01 British E-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Chatham 1912 ships World War I submarines of the United Kingdom World War I shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea Royal Navy ship names Maritime incidents in 1918 Shipwrecks of Finland Scuttled vessels of the United Kingdom