British A class submarine (1903)
| - | | | Typical Characteristics (HMS A2) |
|---|
| Displacement: | 190 tons surfaced207 tons submerged |
| Length: | 105.25 feet (32 m) |
| Beam: | 12.75 feet (3.9 m) |
| Draught: |
| Propulsion: | 16 cylinder Wolseley 450 hp (336 kW) gasoline engine, 150 horsepower (112 kW) electric motor |
| Speed: | maximum 10.5 knots (19 km/h) surfacedmaximum 7 knots (13 km/h) dived |
| Range: | 360 nautical miles (667 km) at 10.5 knots (19 km/h) surfaced20 nautical miles (37 km) submerged at 5 knots (9 km/h) |
| Complement: | 11 (2 officers and 9 ratings) |
| Armament: | Two 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes plus two reloads |
For the later A class, see Amphion class submarineThe
A class was the
Royal Navy's first class of British-designed submarines. Thirteen were built by
Vickers at
Barrow-in-Furness between
1902 and
1905 as an improvement on the US
Adder class. While there was considerable variation amongst the boats of the class, they were around 100 ft (30 m) long and displaced around 200 tons when submerged. All of the class were propelled underwater by battery-powered electric motors and on the surface by shaft-drive
Wolseley petrol engines of 400 bhp (A1), 450 bhp (A2-4) or 600 bhp (A5-12). A13 had an experimental 500 bhp
Vickers diesel plant, which proved unreliable.
Armament was two 18" (45cm) torpedo tubes with four torpedoes, except for A-1 which had 1 tube and 3 torpedoes.
The first, A1 (ordered as Holland No. 6), was launched in July 1902, the last, A13, in April 1905.
A1 was sunk off
Portsmouth on March 18, 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
Whitesand Bay in 1914 after diving into mud. A13 was laid up in 1914 due to engine unreliability.
The remainder were used during the first world war for harbour defence, A2 and A4 - A6 at
Portsmouth, A8 and A9 at
Devonport, and A10-A12 at
Ardrossan. 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.
