"A" Class Submarine (1902)

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The Royal Navy's thirteen "A" Class Coastal Submarines entered service between July 1903 and early 1906.

Service History

The "A" class served as coastal defence submarines, being first used in the Portsmouth and Devonport Submarine Flotillas. They continued to serve in the war, usually alongside "B" and "C" class submarines which were similarly limited to coastal patrol by their limited duration and habitability.

While this is a very stubby page, I have not found evidence that an "A" class submarine was ever effective in destroying enemy assets or impeding their objectives. They were, however, certainly an instrument for the Royal Navy to educate her future submarine officers and a springboard for continued maturation in design and construction.

While many were scrapped after the war, it appears that all operations of this type ceased at various points in 1916. They were simply quaint, had little in the way of targets, and were obviously prone to being mistaken for enemy U-boats. — TONY LOVELL, Editor.

Design & Construction

Torpedoes

A 1 through A 4:

  • one 18-in tube forward, three torpedoes

A 5 through A 13:

  • two 18-in tubes forward, four torpedoes

Note: Wikipedia believes only A 1 fell into the first category.[1]

See Also

Footnotes

Bibliography

  • Gray, Randal (editor) (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).


"A" Class Submarine
A 1 A 2 A 3 A 4 A 5
  A 6 A 7 A 8 A 9  
  A 10 A 11 A 12 A 13  
  Submarines (UK) "B" Class –>