HMS ''B7'' was one of 11 B-class submarines built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1906, she was initially assigned to the

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

, before the boat was transferred to the Mediterranean six years later. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

began in 1914, ''B7'' played a minor role in the Dardanelles Campaign. The boat was transferred to the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

in 1916 to support Italian forces against the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', ) was the navy, naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were designated ''SMS'', for ''Seiner Majestät Schiff'' (His Majes ...

. She was converted into a

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

in 1917 and was sold for

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

in 1919.

Design and description

The B class was an enlarged and improved version of the preceding A class. The submarines had a length of

overall Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers ...

, a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a mean

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The boats had could dive to a depth of . The B-class submarines had a crew of two officers and thirteen ratings.Gardiner & Gray, p. 87 For surface running, the boats were powered by a single 16-cylinder

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American and Canadian English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends ...

that drove one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

. When submerged the propeller was driven by a

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the B class had a range of at .Akermann, p. 123 The boats were armed with two 18-inch (450 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in the bow. They could carry a pair of reload torpedoes, but generally did not as they would have to remove an equal weight of fuel in compensation.

Construction and career

Ordered as part of the 1904–1905 Naval Programme, ''B7'' was built by

at their

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

. She was launched on 30 November 1905 and completed on 27 March 1906 at a cost of £47,000. The B-class submarines were initially assigned to the Third Division of the Home Fleet, based at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

and Devonport, and were tasked with coastal-defence duties and defending the

Straits of Dover The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait, historically known as the Dover Narrows, is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, and separating Great Britain from continental ...

in wartime. In 1912, HMS ''B7'', and were transferred to

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. After the start of the First World War and the unsuccessful pursuit of the German ships ''Goeben'' and ''Breslau'' in August 1914, the B-class submarines were transferred to the Dardanelles area in mid-September to prevent any breakout attempt by the German ships. After the arrival of the larger and more modern E-class submarines in early 1915, the B-class boats began to return to Malta. After the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

joined the Allies in May 1915, the B-class submarines in the Mediterranean were transferred to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

to reinforce Italian forces in the northern Adriatic. ''B7'', ''B8'' and were the first to arrive in

on 11 October. The five British submarines made a total of 13 patrols off the Austro-Hungarian coast before the end of 1915, hampered by bad weather and drifting

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

. ''B7'' was ordered to Malta for a refit at the beginning of 1916, which lasted until May, when the boat made two patrols. On 4 June she was patrolling off Pola with only her

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...

above water when she was attacked by two Austro-Hungarian

Lohner L The Lohner L was a reconnaissance flying boat produced in Austria-Hungary during World War I. It was a two-bay biplane of typical configuration for the flying boats of the day, with its Pusher configuration, pusher engine mounted on struts in th ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

s. As the boat

crash dive A crash dive is a maneuver by a submarine in which the vessel submerges as quickly as possible to avoid attack. Crash diving from the surface to avoid attack has been largely rendered obsolete with the advent of nuclear-powered submarines, as th ...

d a bomb blew in the glass portholes in the conning tower, flooding it and sending ''B7'' below 100 feet before she could recover and surface to drain the conning tower. The bomb had also jammed the

diving plane Diving planes, also known as hydroplanes, are control surfaces found on a submarine which allow the vessel to Pitch (flight), pitch its bow and stern up or down to assist in the process of submerging or surfacing the boat, as well as controlling ...

s in the rise position. The jam was cleared as another flying boat dropped five small bombs near the submarine as she was diving, but failed to do any damage. As she was returning to Venice the following day, her engine broke down and ''B7'' had to be towed into

Chioggia Chioggia (; , ; ) is a coastal town and (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Venice in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Geography The town is located on a small island at the southern entrance to the Venetian Lagoon about sou ...

for repairs. They were not satisfactory and she had to be towed to Venice on the 6th. Replaced by more modern H-class submarines, the B-class boats returned to Malta on 9 November to be converted into surface

s, armed with a 12-pounder () gun. Redesignated as ''S7'' in August 1917, the boat was assigned to patrol the

Otranto Barrage The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Greek side of the Adriatic Sea in the First World War. The operation consisted of over 200 vessels at the height of the block ...

that was intended to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from breaking out of the Adriatic, although she proved to be very unreliable in service.

Paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...

at Malta, she was sold for scrap in 1919.Akkerman, p. 125; Kemp & Jung, pp. 18–19, 22, 25; Wilson, p. 79

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:B07 British B-class submarines World War I submarines of the United Kingdom Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Royal Navy ship names 1905 ships