HMS ''E11'' was an
E-class submarine of 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 ...
launched on 23 April 1914. ''E11'' was one of the most successful
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 in action during the 1915
naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, sinking over 80 vessels of all sizes in three tours of the
Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the ...
.
Design
Like all post-''E8''
British E-class submarines, ''E11'' had a displacement of at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of
and a beam of . She was 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 submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of . British E-class submarines had fuel capacities of of diesel and ranges of when travelling at .
''E11'' was capable of operating submerged for five hours when travelling at .
''E11'' initially did not have a deck gun.
After her first Dardanelles tour, she was fitted with a
12-pounder QF by the dockyard in Malta.
She had five
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, two in the bow, one either side amidships, and one in the stern; a total of 10 torpedoes were carried.
[
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
European operations
''E11'' joined the 8th Submarine Flotilla
The 8th Submarine Flotilla was a flotilla of the British Royal Navy consisting of submarines and their supporting depot ships and destroyers. It was established as part of the Home Fleet in 1912. The flotilla brought together the newer, longer ran ...
at Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...
following sea trials
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and i ...
on 2 October 1914 under the command of Lieutenant-Commander
Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...
Martin Nasmith
Admiral Sir Martin Eric Dunbar-Nasmith, (1 April 1883 – 29 June 1965) was a Royal Navy officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth force ...
.
Later that month, on her first war patrol ''E11'' was dispatched to the Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
along with two other submarines. Nasmith was deterred from breaking through the entrance to the Baltic by numerous vessels and warships in Swedish waters during a night passage. Next morning he mistook , a submarine of neutral
Neutral or neutrality may refer to:
Mathematics and natural science Biology
* Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity
Chemistry and physics
* Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, for the German submarine . The misidentification was principally caused by the pennant number "3" on her conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...
. Two torpedoes
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
were fired, one of which glanced off the bottom of the hull, causing no damage and a minor diplomatic incident. ''E11'' then returned to Harwich.
During the Scarborough Raid in December 1914, ''E11'' was sent into the Heligoland Bight
The Heligoland Bight, also known as Helgoland Bight, (german: Helgoländer Bucht) is a bay which forms the southern part of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe river. The Heligoland Bight extends fro ...
to intercept the returning German Fleet. However, it had already returned to harbour by the time ''E11'' arrived. On the following morning Nasmith was able to attack the battleships
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
of the 1.Geschwader in transit from the Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
to the Jade
Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...
. His torpedo missed the leading battleship, SMS ''Ostfriesland'', which was unaware of the attack.
''E11'' took part in the Cuxhaven Raid
The Raid on Cuxhaven (german: link=no, Weihnachtsangriff, Christmas Raid) was a British ship-based Airstrike, air-raid on the Imperial German Navy at Cuxhaven mounted on Christmas Day, 1914.
Aircraft of the Royal Naval Air Service were carried ...
, which culminated on 25 December 1914 in the attack by seven seaplanes
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
from the seaplane carriers , , and (escorted by three cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
s and several destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s of the Harwich Force
The Harwich Force originally called Harwich Striking Force was a squadron of the Royal Navy, formed during the First World War and based in Harwich. It played a significant role in the war.
History
After the outbreak of the First World War, a p ...
) on Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
sheds and other military targets near Cuxhaven
Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...
. Four of the aircraft failed to regain their ships. ''E11'' was acting as a mark boat on their return route. Three aircraft which were running out of fuel saw ''E11'' and alighted nearby. The five aircrew were rescued by ''E11'' whilst Zeppelin ''L 5 (LZ 28)'' closed to attack. Two bombs were dropped and exploded nearby as ''E11'' submerged. Nasmith received a mention in despatches.
Mediterranean operations
In May 1915, still commanded by Nasmith, ''E11'' arrived at the Dardanelles to join the submarine campaign in the Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the ...
. ''E11'' was the second submarine to undertake a successful tour, following the which had passed through the straits on 27 April.
The ''E11'' passed through the Dardanelles on the night of 18 May. Surfacing off the town of Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...
, Nasmith captured a Turkish sailing vessel and lashed it to the conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...
to act as a disguise. However, this ruse
Ruse may refer to:
Places
*Ruse, Bulgaria, a major city of Bulgaria
**Ruse Municipality
** Ruse Province
** 19th MMC – Ruse, a constituency
*Ruše, a town and municipality in north-eastern Slovenia
* Ruše, Žalec, a small settlement in east-ce ...
failed to attract any targets, so after several days he abandoned it. Travelling up the Sea of Marmara, he sank a gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.
History Pre-steam ...
and several other small craft on 23 May. The following day, near the port of Rodosto (today Tekirdağ
Tekirdağ (; see also its other names) is a city in Turkey. It is located on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara, in the region of East Thrace. In 2019 the city's population was 204,001.
Tekirdağ town is a commercial centre with a harbour ...
), ''E11'' encountered the Turkish transport ''Nagara'', laden with ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
. Aboard the transport was an American journalist, Raymond Gram Swing
Raymond Gram Swing (March 25, 1887 – December 22, 1968) was an American print and broadcast journalist. He was one of the most influential news commentators of his era, heard by people worldwide as a leading American voice from Britain durin ...
, from the ''Chicago Daily News
The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.
History
The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...
''. Nasmith sank the ship after it was abandoned by the crew and passengers. Nasmith sank another transport and forced one aground before being driven away from the shore by some Turkish cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
.
On 25 May 1915 ''E11'' reached Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
(now Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
). Nasmith was searching for the German warships and , but when he surfaced at 12:40, he sighted the elderly transport ''Stamboul'' lying alongside the Tophane Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
. Nasmith's first torpedo ran in a circle and nearly struck the ''E11'', however the second torpedo hit ''Stamboul''. Under fire from shore-based artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
, ''E11'' dived to make her escape. Caught in the strong Bosphorus
The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...
current, ''E11'' was out of control for 20 minutes until she settled on the bottom near the Leander Tower. ''Stamboul'' failed to sink, but was beached at Harem
Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...
. ''E11''s attack on Constantinople, the first by an enemy vessel in over 100 years, had an enormous impact on Turkish morale
Morale, also known as esprit de corps (), is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value ...
, causing a panic in the city and compelling ''Goeben'' to shift to a safer mooring.
''E11'' returned to the Bosphorus approaches on 27 May and sank more ships, but running short of torpedoes and with mounting mechanical problems, Nasmith headed home on 5 June. On his return passage through the Dardanelles he encountered an anchored transport near the Moussa Bank which, despite his vulnerable position and the poor state of the submarine, he attacked and sank with his final torpedo. Passing through the Narrows near Kilid Bahr, ''E11'' snagged a moored mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
. Nasmith had to tow the mine out of the straits before he was able to disentangle the submarine. On ''E11''s first tour, eleven ships were sunk or disabled. For this successful tour Nasmith was awarded the Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
, the third submarine commander to receive the award during the Dardanelles Campaign.
''E11'' was on her second tour when, on 6 August, she successfully torpedoed the Turkish torpedo cruiser
A torpedo cruiser is a type of warship that is armed primarily with torpedoes. The major navies began building torpedo cruisers shortly after the invention of the locomotive Whitehead torpedo in the 1860s. The development of the torpedo gave rise ...
, causing serious damage. Two days later 8 August 1915 as a new British landing was underway at Suvla
View of Suvla from Battleship Hill
Suvla () is a bay on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in European Turkey, south of the Gulf of Saros.
On 6 August 1915, it was the site for the Landing at Suvla Bay by the British IX Corps as par ...
, ''E11'' torpedoed the antiquated Turkish pre-dreadnought battleship
Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, prote ...
off Bulair at the northern entrance to the Dardanelles. The ship sank with the loss of 21 officers and 237 men. ''Barbaros Hayreddin'' was one of two Ottoman battleships sunk during the campaign. Visiting Constantinople again, ''E11'' sank a Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
collier ''Isfahan'' as it was preparing to unload — a significant blow as coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
was the main fuel source and supplies were scarce. Moving into the Gulf of Izmit
A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...
, on the night of 20 August, ''E11''s first officer, Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
Guy D'Oyly-Hughes
Captain Guy D'Oyly-Hughes DSO & Bar, DSC (8 August 1891 – 8 June 1940) was an officer in the Royal Navy.
Service career
Early life
Guy D'Oyly-Hughes was born in 1891 in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, the son of Samuel Hughes, a Briti ...
, swam ashore and blew up a section of the Constantinople– Baghdad railway line, a feat for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries.
*Distinguished Service Cross (Australia)
*Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
*Distinguished Service Cross (U ...
. Navigating Officer Lieutenant Robert Brown was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. A reservist from the Merchant Navy, Brown had famously been born rounding the Cape Horn on the clipper ''John Gambles'', the sister ship to the more famous .
''E11'' made three tours of the Sea of Marmara and sank in total 27 steamers and 58 smaller vessels.
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:E11
British E-class submarines of the Royal Navy
Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
1914 ships
World War I submarines of the United Kingdom
Royal Navy ship names