"E" Class Submarine (1912)

A total of fifty-seven "E" Class Submarines entered service in the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy between 1913 and 1917. The Royal Navy considered these to be "patrol" (as opposed to coastal or fleet) submarines.^[1]

Though they were produced in considerable numbers, the "E" boats were so successful that their numbers were deemed insufficient. In light of this view, the "L" class boats would be designed and prduced as enlarged "E"s.^[2]

The boats delivered outstanding service in the Great War, but advances in technology and design, and the large numbers of older submarines available at war's end mitigated against their longevity. About twenty were retained after the war's end, but all but one were in a collective reserve at Portsmouth. All were disposed of before the mid-1920s.

Overview of 57 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
E 1	Chatham Royal Dockyard		9 Nov, 1912		Scuttled 8 Apr, 1918
E 2	Chatham Royal Dockyard		23 Nov, 1912		Sold 1921
E 3	Vickers		29 Oct, 1912		Torpedoed 18 Oct, 1914
E 4	Vickers		5 Feb, 1912		Collision 15 Aug, 1916
E 5	Vickers		17 May, 1912		Lost 7 Mar, 1916
E 6	Vickers		12 Nov, 1912		Mined 26 Dec, 1915
E 7	Chatham Royal Dockyard		2 Oct, 1913		Lost 8 Apr, 1918
E 8	Vickers		30 Oct, 1913		Scuttled 8 Apr, 1918
AE 1	Vickers		18 Jun, 1913		Lost 14 Sep, 1914
AE 2	Vickers		22 May, 1913		Scuttled 30 Apr, 1915
E 9	Vickers		29 Nov, 1913		Scuttled 8 Apr, 1918
E 10	Vickers		29 Nov, 1913	Aug, 1914	Lost 18 Jan, 1915
E 11	Vickers		23 Apr, 1914	Sep, 1914	Sold Mar, 1921
E 12	Chatham Royal Dockyard		5 Sep, 1914	Oct, 1914	Sold Mar, 1921
E 13	Chatham Royal Dockyard		22 Sep, 1914	Dec, 1914	Sold Dec, 1921
E 14	Vickers		7 Jul, 1914	Dec, 1914	Mined 27 Jan, 1918
E 15	Vickers		23 Apr, 1914	Oct, 1914	Lost 15 Apr, 1915
E 16	Vickers		23 Sep, 1914	Feb, 1915	Mined 22 Aug, 1916
E 17	Vickers		16 Jan, 1916	Apr, 1915	Wrecked 6 Jan, 1916
E 18	Vickers		4 Mar, 1915	Jun, 1915	Sunk 24 May, 1916
E 19	Vickers		13 May, 1915	Jul, 1915	Scuttled 8 Apr, 1918
E 20	Vickers		12 Jun, 1916	Aug, 1915	Sunk 5 Nov, 1915
E 21	Vickers		24 Jul, 1915	Oct, 1915	Sold Dec, 1921
E 22	Vickers		27 Aug, 1915	Nov, 1915	Torpedoed 25 Apr, 1916
E 23	Vickers		28 Sep, 1915	Dec, 1915	Sold Sep, 1922
E 25	William Beardmore & Company		23 Aug, 1915	Oct, 1915	Sold Dec, 1921
E 26	William Beardmore & Company		11 Nov, 1915	Dec, 1915	Lost 6 Jul, 1916
E 27	Yarrow & Company		9 Jun, 1917	Aug, 1917	Sold Sep, 1922
E 29	Armstrong, Whitworth & Company		1 Jun, 1915	Oct, 1915	Sold Feb, 1922
E 30	Armstrong, Whitworth & Company		29 Jun, 1915	Dec, 1915	Lost 22 Nov, 1916
E 31	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company		23 Aug, 1915	Dec, 1915	Sold Sep, 1922
E 32	J. Samuel White		16 Aug, 1916	Oct, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 33	John I. Thornycroft & Company		18 Apr, 1916	Nov, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 35	John Brown & Company		20 May, 1916	Jul, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 36	John Brown & Company		16 Sep, 1916	Nov, 1916	Lost 17 Jan, 1917
E 37	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company		2 Sep, 1915	Mar, 1916	Lost 1 Dec, 1916
E 38	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company		13 Jun, 1916	Jul, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 39	Palmer Shipbuilding and Iron Company		18 May, 1916	Oct, 1916	Sold Oct, 1921
E 40	Palmer Shipbuilding and Iron Company		9 Nov, 1916	May, 1917	Sold Dec, 1921
E 42	Cammell Laird		22 Oct, 1915	Feb, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 43	Swan Hunter		11 Nov, 1915	Mar, 1916	Sold Jan, 1921
E 44	Swan Hunter		21 Feb, 1916	Jul, 1916	Sold Oct, 1921
E 47	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company		29 May, 1916	Oct, 1916	Lost 20 Aug, 1917
E 48	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company		2 Aug, 1916	Mar, 1917	Sold Jul, 1928
E 49	Swan Hunter		18 Sep, 1916	Dec, 1916	Mined 12 Mar, 1917
E 50	John Brown & Company		13 Nov, 1916	Jan, 1917	Mined 1 Feb, 1918
E 52	William Denny & Brothers		25 Jan, 1917	Mar, 1917	Sold Jan, 1921
E 53	William Beardmore & Company		1916	Mar, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 54	William Beardmore & Company		1916	May, 1916	Sold Dec, 1921
E 55	William Denny & Brothers		5 Feb, 1916	Mar, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 56	William Denny & Brothers		19 Jun, 1916	Aug, 1916	Sold Jun, 1923
E 24	Vickers		9 Dec, 1915	Jan, 1916	Mined 24 Mar, 1916
E 34	John I. Thornycroft & Company		27 Jan, 1917	Mar, 1917	Mined 20 Jul, 1918
E 41	Cammell Laird		22 Oct, 1915	Feb, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 45	Vickers		25 Jan, 1916	Aug, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 46	Cammell Laird		4 Apr, 1916	Oct, 1916	Sold Sep, 1922
E 51	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company		30 Nov, 1916	Jan, 1917	Sold Oct, 1921

Design and Construction

Design drawing for E 17 through E 24.^[3]

Performance

The Grand Fleet Battle Orders specified that the top speed on the surface was 14 knots, but that a more realistic "sea-going speed" was 12 knots.^[4]

History

E 28 was cancelled before completion.

On 11 November, 1914, a conference of representatives of shipbuilding firms were asked to prioritise their capacity to build "E" class boats, and this resulted in an order for 38 boats from 12 firms, with an additional two being ordered from Denny before the month was out.

Radio

By war's end, all boats of "E" class and later were given 3 kilowatt Poulsen wireless sets, affording ranges of 200 miles submarine-to-submarine, and 300-400 miles between shore stations and submarines. Reception of shore stations of 400 miles was common, and high power shore stations could be received over 500-600 miles.^[5]

Torpedoes

E 1 - E 8:

four 18-in tubes (one forward, one stern, 2 broadside), eight torpedoes

E 19 - E 25 (with appropriations per boat specified in 1913 and 1914):^[6]^[7]

two 21-in tubes (one forward, one aft, seven torpedoes)
two 18-in tubes broadside (seven 18-in Mark VIII torpedos)

E 9 - E 56 (as delivered):^[8]

two 18-in tubes forward, undepressed, Elswick high impulse or Service
two 18-in tubes broadside, undepressed, Service
one 18-in tube aft, B lip end in E 19 and later

Minelayers:

three 18-in tubes (two forward, one stern)
twenty mines

Guns

Though in 1912 it had been decided that all "oversea" submarines should carry a 12-pdr, this class was seemingly built without a gun,^[9] though the drawing above seems to imply some may have been equipped with, or designed to support, a 12-pdr aft.