"W" Class Submarine (1914)

The four "W" Class Submarines were coastal submarines built by Armstrong and, like the "S" class boats, given to Italy; the "W" class being transferred in August, 1916.

Overview of 4 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
W 1	Armstrong, Whitworth & Company		19 Nov, 1914	Jan, 1915	to Italy 23 Aug, 1916
W 2	Armstrong, Whitworth & Company		17 Feb, 1915	May, 1915	to Italy 23 Aug, 1916
W 3	Armstrong, Whitworth & Company		1 Apr, 1915	Feb, 1916	to Italy 23 Aug, 1916
W 4	Armstrong, Whitworth & Company		25 Nov, 1915	Jun, 1916	to Italy 7 Aug, 1916

History

The subs were double-hulled boats of the Laubeuf type, with Schneider-Laubeuf engines. They were known as unreliable boats, suffering frequent diesel breakdowns.

Torpedoes

W 1 and W 2 (1913 planning):

• two 18-in tubes forward, seven 18-in Mark VIII torpedos
• two 18-in drop-collars, seven 18-in Fiume Mark IIs

W 1 and W 2 (as completed):

• two 18-in tubes forward, two torpedoes
• four 18-in drop-collars

W 3 and W 4 (1913 planning):

• two 18-in tubes forward, seven 18-in Mark VIII torpedoes

W 3 and W 4 (as completed):

• two 18-in tubes forward, four torpedoes

Guns

W 3 and W 4:

• one 3-in H.A. gun

See Also

• Wikipedia

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).