H.M.S. E 55 (1916)

H.M.S. E 55 (1916)
Pendant Number:	E.55^[1]
Builder:	Denny^[2]
Launched:	5 Feb, 1916^[3]
Commissioned:	Mar, 1916^[4]
Sold:	Sep, 1922^[5]

H.M.S. E 55 was one of 57 submarines of the "E" class.

Service

D 1, E 55 and E 26 sortied from Harwich at 7 p.m., GMT on 30th May 1916 to try to intercept the returning High Sea Fleet on a line stretching west from the Vyl Light Vessel. E 55's position was most proximate, at 4 miles, and the most exciting. She sighted Horn's Reef at 12.30 a.m. on June 1st and 15 minutes later dived after sighting a low-flying Zeppelin. At 12.45 a.m., a something like a sweep was heard to pass close to the bottomed submarine. This may have been minesweeping operations, as between 2.15 and 5.30 a.m., eleven explosions were heard. The next day presented only a single destroyer sighting at 8.25 a.m. that turned back before coming into range.

On the 2nd, two U-boats were sighted at 1.25 p.m. and 6.13. p.m.. E 55 fired a torpedo at the second, and thought it obtained a hit with the improbably precise placement of "the Port forward hydroplane", but the enemy continued southward. On the 3rd, again two U-boats were reported: one diving two miles away at 7.20 a.m. and one passing out of range to the south at 3 in the afternoon.

All three British submarines returned to Harwich after dark on June 3rd.^[6]

At the end of 1920, she was one of eight "E" class boats of Group "J" in reserve at Rosyth under the collective command of Lieutenant Charles E. A. W. Cox, and tender to Dolphin.^[7]