The First British Sub Ever To Be Lost At Sea

History tells us that there were to have been six submarines of the Holland type built for the Royal Navy at Barrow. That there were only five and that Vickers Sons and Maxim really got a foothold in the building business is due to one man, Captain Reginald Bacon, the first Inspecting Captain of Submarines.

Like his title, what Captain Bacon did belongs to history. Nevertheless it began the submarine drawing office at Barrow Shipyard and submarines and their propulsion systems have provided work ever since.

A3 in 1903

Captain Bacon soon decided that the Holland class submarines were too small to be of any practical value. The British Admiralty had been moved from its earlier position of never, ever entertaining the submarine as a weapon of war to one of appreciating that the American lawyer Isaac Rice had something to offer the Royal Navy when he came to England with J D Holland's designs. Captain Bacon wanted new and bigger boats and thus it was that what was intended as Holland 6 emerged as HMS A.1.

The Captain had his own ideas and set about drafting them. He wanted a new class with better sea-going qualities so Vickers Sons and Maxim placed a drawing office at Barrow at his disposal and allocated him two ship and two engineering draughtsmen. A Mr A Turney was the chief draughtsman for the boats design and a Mr L G McFarlane was chief draughtsman for the engineering detail.

It was decided to install a 12-cylinder Wolseley engine developing 450 horsepower and driving a single shaft. On trials this produced the speed that had been hoped for - about 11½ knots. A much improved chloride battery powered the boats electric motor and this in turn produced underwater speeds of up to seven knots.

Endurance was improved and the displacement tonnage increased to 165 tons (surfaced) and 180 tons (submerged). Not surprisingly, the length of the boat increased from 63 feet to 100 feet and A.1 was given a complement of two officers and nine men.

One of the greatest improvements was the addition of a conning tower projecting some six feet above the deck. This gave a reasonable position from which to navigate on the surface, and a much better housing for the periscope, which had now been recognised as being a vital part of the submarine.

Building Holland 1 had taught a lot of people a great many things. It had for example put Vickers Sons and Maxim in touch with a gentleman named Sir Howard Grubb, a well known scientist of the day and an authority on optics.

Sir Howard designed for Vickers the periscope used in the first Holland's and than enabled a cable to be sent to Isaac Rice in February 1902 reading "Course can be accurately kept by Sir Howard Grubb's periscope." What price the modern SINS (Ship's Inertial Navigation System)?

Clearly Vickers had made another name for themselves. So much so that an Admiralty spokesman said in the House of Commons:

"So ably did they deal with this matter that, even before the first Holland submarine was launched they had already evolved and laid down what is known as the A-type."

Actually he was stretching the facts a little but it is interesting to note now that while Barrow was building Holland's the American Navy Department had accepted submarines only with "deep reluctance." The upshot was financial trouble for Electric Boat majority shareholders by the end of 1903.

Vickers had certainly got under way as submarine builders. Altogether 13 A-class were launched between 1902 and 1905. They in turn overlapped a new class - the Bs. The last A was launched at Barrow on April 18, 1905. B.1 was launched on October 25, 1904. Submarines were beginning to get bigger and better.

The ill-fated A1

A.1 was completed in 1902 and was destined to have a brief life. She carried aboard during that life, King Edward VII and HRH the Prince of Wales. Then, during manoeuvres on March 18, 1904, she became the first British Submarine to be lost at sea.

Intent on attacking the Barrow-built cruiser HMS Juno (Home Fleet) off Spit-head the young Captain became so engrossed in his task that he failed to notice the Castle Line steamer Berwick Castle bearing down upon his command. The Berwick Castle hit the conning tower of A.1 and the submarine sank immediately. She was recovered a month later but all her crew lost their lives.

THE FIRST DIESEL

What appears to have escaped the eyes of researchers so far is that the first diesel-engined submarine in the Royal Navy was HMS A.13X. Launched at Barrow in 1905. The boat was fitted with what is described now as "a heavy oil engine." It was in fact a diesel engine designed and built by Vickers.

Ruston-Hornsby - then Hornsby, had designed an oil engine but it was rejected on account of being "too heavy." The Vickers design was used instead. Yet diesel propulsion was not generally used until the advent of the D-class boats.

Story of the first dive.

The first of the five Holland type boats built at Barrow was commanded by D. Arnold-Foster. How he came to Barrow to see his new command, and his first experience of diving her is described in Lt Arnold-Forster's own words.

As I was to be her first captain I was anxious to see the boat directly I got to Barrow, but found that nobody seemed to have heard of any submarine at all.
Eventually I discovered her in a shed (labelled 'yacht shed' in large white letters) where she was being built in the utmost secrecy.

Only selected trustworthy men were allowed inside, all frames and other parts made in the yard were marked "For Pontoon No.1" and so she aroused no special interest in the busy workshops.

What surprised me most when I did find the boat was her small size. She was only 63 ft. long and was shaped like a very fat and stumpy cigar. She had fins and a tail with a single propeller and two rudders, one for steering and the other for diving.

There was a small conning tower on top just big enough to put one's head and shoulders in. Her speed turned out afterwards to be seven knots on the surface and never more than about four knots under water.

The ingenious designer in New York evidently did not realise that the average naval officer has only two eyes and two hands, the little conning tower was simply plastered with wheels, levers, valves and gauges with which some superman was to fire torpedoes, dive and steer and do everything else at the same time.

The first dive and underwater run was made in Morecambe Bay and an American crew that had done some trial runs was sent over by the Holland Boat Co. to go out with us for our first effort.

After the boat was carefully trimmed down everyone except the American working the diving rudder wheel, the 'boss diver' as he called himself, was seated about the boat on canvas stools opposite their work and warned that if they moved they might upset the balance and perhaps cause a nose-dive into the mud.

Then the motor went ahead, the diving rudder was put down and green water was seen through the conning tower windows Gradually the depth gauge showed we were running under water for the first time and those who could see watched it anxiously whilst listening to the hum of the motor and the queer sounding American orders given by our temporary captain.

The boat ran, as these beats always did, with her nose well down and to those who could not see the depth gauge it seemed as though we were bound for the bottom and when a bucket got loose and clattered down the engine room floor plates it sent their hearts into their mouths.

After a little practice the boat was found to be very handy under water but on the surface she was a brute. Being short and stumpy she was awkward to steer on the surface and one day she alarmed the inmates of the sick-bay in her parent ship by poking her big nose right through the ship's side into the berths.

When it was at all rough the boat was all awash and nothing could be seen from the little conning tower. Everything had to be battened down. Those below had to stop there and those on deck, the captain and the coxswain, had their work cut out to hang on by the wheel and ventilators when their feet were washed from under them by the seas.

Reproduced from
Ulverston News (1976)

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