E Class Submarines Group Three

This class was the backbone of the Royal Navy during WWI and bore the brunt of the submarine contribution to the war effort. A few experiments were carried out with the 'E' class including the carrying of seaplanes. Seven of the class were sent to the Baltic to assist the Russians, E.11 failed to arrive and E.13 was lost on passage.

Six of this class were configured as minelayers, they could carry 20 mines in vertical chutes which were situated in the saddle tanks, five each side, two mines to a chute.

The main base for this class serving in the North Sea was Harwich, which operated a maximum of eighteen boats. They also operated from the Tees and Blyth, and also in 1918 from Killybegs in Ireland.

At the end of WWI the 'E' class were operating from Harwich (11), Tees (6), Killybegs (2), Mediterranean (6) and Adriatic (4). Most of them were put on sale during 1919-1920, only E.48 survived into the late 1920's.

36 Built

Submarine	Builder	Built
E21-E24.	Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness	1914 - 1916
E25, E26	Beardmore, Dalmuir	19?? - 1915
E27	Yarrow, Scotstoun	19?? - 1917
E29, E30	Armstrong Whitworth, Newcastle-on-Tyne	1914 - 1915
E31	Scotts, Greenock	1914 - 1915
E32	White, Cowes	1914 - 1916
E33, E34	Thornycroft, Woolston	1915 - 1917
E35, E36	Brown, Clydebank	1914 - 1916
E37, E38, E47	Fairfield, Govan	1914 - 1916
E39, E40	Palmer, Jarrow	1914 - 1917
E41, E42, E45, E46	Cammell Laird, Birkenhead	1914 - 1916
E43, E44	Swan Hunter, Wallsend	1914 - 1917

E28 was cancelled on 20th April 1915.
This was one of the most successful type of submarine in the Royal Navy.

Technical Information

Displacement (tons)	662 sf 807 sm
Length (ft):	180 oa
Breadth (ft):	22.5 oa
Draught/Height (ft):	12.5
Machinery:	Vickers-Admiralty Diesel Engines1,600 hp 840 hp electric motors, 2 screws.
Speed (kts):	15.25 sf 9.75 sm
Oil Supply (tons):	na
Armament:	5 x 18 inch tubes, 2 bow, 2 beam, 1 stern. 1 x 12 pdr and 1 x 2 pdr pom-pom on some. Reloads: 10.
Range:	na
Complement:	3 Officers and 28 Ratings
sm = submerged, sf = surfaced, oa = overall, hp = horsepower, na = not available.

Type:	E Class	Group Three
Pennant No.:	I.70
Laid Down:	29th November 1914.	Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness.
Commissioned:	1st October 1915.	Not known at present.
Commander:	1915 - 1917 1917 - 1919 1919 1919	Lt. Cdr. T.C.B. Harbottle. Lt. H.C. Carlyon Britton. Lt. J. Rushbrooke Lt. K.M. Fardell
Complement:	31	3 Officers, 28 Ratings.
Service Career:	1918	H.M.S. Adamant, Brindisi.
	Based at Malta, diverted to Brindisi in the Adriatic on HMS Adamant. Despatched along with three other 'E' boats and Adamant to establish a base at Corfu (Govino) in October 1917. Moved to Gibaraltar for operations off the Azores. Returned to Brinidsi with Adamant in March 1918. Sank the Austrian merchant ship Vila 30th June 1918.

Fate:	Sold 14th December 1921.

Type:	E Class	Group Three
Pennant No.:	E.54
Laid Down:	February 1915.	Beardmore, Dalmuir.
Commissioned:	May 1916.	Not known at present.
Commander:	1916 1917 1917	Lt. Cdr. R. Raikes. Lt. Cdr. R. Raikes. Lt. Cdr. B. L. Johnson. RNR.
Complement:	31	3 Officers, 28 Ratings.
Service Career:	8th Flotilla. 1917 - Vulcan Flotilla. 1917 - Ambrose Flotilla. 1918 - Ambrose Flotilla.	Harwich. H.M.S. Vulcan, Queenstown, Ireland. H.M.S. Ambrose, Bantry Bay, Ireland. H.M.S. Ambrose, Portsmouth.
	Sank the UC10 under the command of Albrecht on 21st August 1916 in the North Sea. Sank the U81 under the command of Weisbach on 1st May 1917 in the Atlantic under conflicting circumstances. One claim is that U81's crew were carrying out their ablutions on the upper deck, one crew member using the 'BUCKET'. Raikes is reputed to have stated ('I saved him the trouble of using toilet paper'), this has since been proved untrue. The second claim is that U81 was at action stations because the boat was engaged in sinking a steamer when E54's torpedo struck her.
Fate:	Not known at present.

E Class

Overseas Submarine

36 Built

Technical Information