HMS ''A1'' 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 ...

's first British-designed submarine, and their first to suffer fatal casualties. She was the lead ship of the first British s and the only one to have a single bow

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 ...

. She was actually sunk twice: first in 1904 when she became the first submarine casualty, with the loss of all hands; however, she was recovered, but sank again in 1911, this time when she was unmanned. The wreck was discovered in 1989 and was designated under the

Protection of Wrecks Act The Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provides protection for designated shipwrecks. Section 1 of the act provides for wrecks to be designated because of historical, archaeological or ...

in 1998. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

Design and construction

She was an enlarged and improved – longer than the Royal Navy's five "Holland"-type boats. Subsequent A-class boats were even larger and differed from her in several respects. Like all members of her class, she was built at

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 i ...

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of 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 B ...

. She was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 19 February 1902 and launched on 9 July 1902. Before she left the yard she suffered from a hydrogen explosion. Later while under tow to

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 ...

to join with the rest of the navy's submarines, seawater managed to reach her batteries, which gave off chlorine gas, forcing the evacuation of the vessel.

Casualty, recovery, loss and rediscovery

She was accidentally sunk in the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...

on 18 March 1904 whilst carrying out a practice attack on the

protected cruiser Protected cruisers, a type of naval cruiser of the late-19th century, gained their description because an armoured deck offered protection for vital machine-spaces from fragments caused by shells exploding above them. Protected cruisers re ...

by being struck on the starboard side of the conning tower by a mail steamer, SS ''Berwick Castle'', which was ''en route'' from

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. She sank in only of water, but the boat flooded and the entire crew was drowned. One consequence was that all subsequent Royal Navy submarines were equipped with a watertight hatch at the bottom of the conning tower. She was raised on 18 April 1904 and repaired and re-entered service. Following a

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 c ...

explosion in August 1910, she was converted to a testbed for the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

's Anti-Submarine Committee. She was lost a year later when running submerged but unmanned under automatic pilot. Although the position of her sinking was known at the time, all efforts to locate her were fruitless. It was not until 1989 that the wreck was discovered by a local fisherman at

Bracklesham Bay Bracklesham Bay is a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in West Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. It is a coastal bay on the west side of the Manhood Peninsula in West Sussex, England. The bay lo ...

, approximately away. It is thought that she was only partially flooded when she sank, and the resulting partial buoyancy meant that the wreck moved in the strong local currents. The wreck was designated under the

on 26 November 1998 and redesignated to extend the area covered on 5 October 2004.Statutory instrument 2004 no 2395
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References

External links

evolution and design of early Royal Navy submarines

multibeam sonar image of the wreck of HMS A1 surveyed in 200
and later images from a dive"HMS/m A1" National Heritage List for England
{{DEFAULTSORT:A01 A-class submarines (1903) Protected Wrecks of England British submarine accidents 1989 archaeological discoveries Maritime incidents in 1904 Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Royal Navy ship names Shipwrecks in the English Channel Wreck diving sites in England 1902 ships Maritime incidents in 1910 Maritime incidents in 1911 March 1904 events History of West Sussex 1989 in England