HMS A1
{{Short description|Royal Navy's first British-designed submarine}}
{{for-multi|the WWII A class submarines|Amphion-class submarine|U.S. Navy ships with a similar name|USS A-1}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=A1 Submarine - May 1904.jpg |Ship caption=HMS A1 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=HMS A1 |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=19 February 1902 |Ship launched=9 July 1902 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed=27 July 1903 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship fate=Lost, 1911 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type=Submarine |Ship class={{sclass2|A|submarine | |1903}}
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|190|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} (surfaced)
|Ship length={{convert|103.25|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|11.9|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= |Ship power=*{{convert|450|hp|kW|lk=in|abbr=on}} (petrol engine)
|Ship propulsion=*1 × 16-cylinder Wolseley petrol engine
|Ship speed=*{{convert|11.5|kn|mph km/h|lk=in|abbr=on}} (surfaced)
|Ship range=*{{convert|500|nmi|mi km|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|11.5|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}} (surfaced)
|Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement=11 (2 officers and 9 ratings) |Ship armament=2 × 18 in (450 mm) torpedo tubes (bow, four torpedoes)Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 1, p.[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc01fitz/page/1 1], "A-1". |Ship notes= }} |
HMS A1 was the Royal Navy's first British-designed submarine, and their first to suffer fatal casualties.
She was the lead ship of the first British {{sclass2|A|submarine|2||1903}}
Design and construction
She was an enlarged and improved {{sclass2|Holland|submarine|2}}–{{convert|40|ft|m|abbr=on}} longer than the Royal Navy's five "Holland"-type boats. Subsequent A-class boats were even larger and differed from her in several respects.{{cite web |title=1902 - 1920: A Class |url=http://rnsubs.co.uk/boats/subs/a-class.html |website=rnsubs.co.uk |access-date=27 September 2022}}
Like all members of her class, she was built at Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 19 February 1902 and launched on 9 July 1902.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=10 July 1902 |page=10 |issue=36816}}{{cite web |title=A1 |url=http://rnsubs.co.uk/boats/subs/a-class/a1.html |website=rnsubs.co.uk |access-date=27 September 2022}}
Before she left the yard she suffered from a hydrogen explosion. Later while under tow to Portsmouth to join with the rest of the navy's submarines, seawater managed to reach her batteries, which gave off chlorine gas, forcing the evacuation of the vessel.{{cite book |title=Disasters of the Deep A Comprehensive Survey of Submarine Accidents & Disasters |last=Gray |first=Edwyn |author-link=Edwyn Gray |year=2003|publisher=Leo Cooper|isbn=0-85052-987-5 |page=49}}
Casualty, recovery, loss and rediscovery
{{stack|File:Demise of the A1.jpg}}
She was accidentally sunk in the Solent on 18 March 1904 whilst carrying out a practice attack on the protected cruiser {{HMS|Juno|1895|6}} by being struck on the starboard side of the conning tower by a mail steamer, SS Berwick Castle, which was en route from Southampton to Hamburg. She sank in only {{convert|39|ft|m|abbr=on}} of water, but the boat flooded and the entire crew was drowned.{{cite web |title=The First British Sub Ever To Be Lost At Sea |url=http://rnsubs.co.uk/articles/lost-found/first-sub-lost.html |website=rnsubs.co.uk |access-date=27 September 2022}} One consequence was that all subsequent Royal Navy submarines were equipped with a watertight hatch at the bottom of the conning tower.*{{cite book |last1=McCartney |first1=Innes |title=Lost patrols : submarine wrecks of the English Channel |date=2002 |publisher=Periscope |location=Penzance |isbn=978-1-90438-104-4}}
She was raised on 18 April 1904 and repaired and re-entered service. Following a petrol explosion in August 1910, she was converted to a testbed for the Admiralty's Anti-Submarine Committee. She was lost a year later when running submerged but unmanned under automatic pilot. Although the position of her sinking was known at the time, all efforts to locate her were fruitless. It was not until 1989 that the wreck was discovered by a local fisherman at Bracklesham Bay, approximately {{convert|5|mi|km|abbr=on}} away.[http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F47CA311-8CA4-4F43-9DE1-A1FE323AA934/0/achwsreport19992000.pdf Advisory Committee on Historic Wrecks Report for 1999-2000] {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080306170456/http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F47CA311-8CA4-4F43-9DE1-A1FE323AA934/0/achwsreport19992000.pdf |date=2008-03-06 }} It is thought that she was only partially flooded when she sank, and the resulting partial buoyancy meant that the wreck moved in the strong local currents. The wreck was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 26 November 1998[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1998/19982708.htm Statutory instrument 1998 no 2708 protecting wreck of HMS A1] and redesignated to extend the area covered on 5 October 2004.[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/uksi_20042395_en.pdf Statutory instrument 2004 no 2395]
References
External links
- [http://rnsubs.co.uk/dits-bits/br-3043/part-one/chapter-3.html The Spindle Hull Types - Holland, A, B and C Classes] evolution and design of early Royal Navy submarines
- [http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/marine/alsf/wrecks_seabed/wrecks/VAR_HMSA1/HMSA1.html Wessex Archaeology] multibeam sonar image of the wreck of HMS A1 surveyed in 2003 [https://www.flickr.com/photos/wessexarchaeology/sets/72157623643637744/ and later images from a dive]
- [https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000043 "HMS/m A1" National Heritage List for England]
{{Portal|United Kingdom|Underwater diving}}
{{A class submarine (1903)}}
{{1904 shipwrecks}}
{{1910 shipwrecks}}
{{1911 shipwrecks}}
{{Recreational dive sites|wresit}}
{{Coord|50.7425|N|0.9213|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:A01}}
Category:A-class submarines (1903)
Category:Protected wrecks of England
Category:British submarine accidents
Category:1989 archaeological discoveries
Category:Maritime incidents in 1904
Category:Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
Category:Royal Navy ship names
Category:Shipwrecks in the English Channel
Category:Wreck diving sites in England
Category:Maritime incidents in 1910
Category:Maritime incidents in 1911