HMS ''A3'' was an

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

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. She sank in 1912. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

Design and description

''A3'' was a member of the first British class of submarines, although slightly larger, faster and more heavily armed than the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

, . The submarine had a length of overall, a beam 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 A-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 9 ratings. For surface running, the boats were powered by a single 16-cylinder Wolseley

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. 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, ''A3'' had a range of at ; the boat had a range of at submerged. The boats were armed with two 18-inch (45 cm)

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 doing so that they had to compensate for their weight by an equivalent weight of fuel.

Construction and career

''A3'' was laid down by Vickers, Sons & Maxim as Yard No.295 at

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 ...

on 6 November 1902 and was launched on 9 May 1903. She was commissioned on 13 July 1904. She primarily served as a coastal defense and training submarine in her over seven years of service. On 2 February 1912, ''A3'', along with several other submarines dispatched from the port of

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

, conducted training exercises on target ships in the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whi ...

. Whilst attacking the depot ship , the semi-submerged ''A3'' accidentally collided with its target southwest of the East Princessa Buoy in the eastern Solent. Its rudder and propeller were both disabled, and the holed submarine sank immediately with all 14 hands lost. The

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

sent his immediate condolences to the families of the lost seamen. The submarine was raised from the bottom on 11 March and was brought into the south

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

of Portsmouth dockyard the following day, slung below a salvage

lighter A lighter is a portable device which uses mechanical or electrical means to create a controlled flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of flammable items, such as cigarettes, butane gas, fireworks, candles, or campfires. A lighter typic ...

; the lock was pumped dry so that the 14 bodies could be recovered and the damages surveyed. After being towed from Portsmouth to Portland Naval Dockyard, the wreck was towed offshore into Weymouth Bay and, after some technical experiments on the hull, it was sunk as a gunnery target by shells from on 17 May 1912. In July 2016 the wreck of ''A3'' was officially designated as a protected site.

Notes

References

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External links

MaritimeQuest HMS ''A3'' Pages

'Submarine losses 1904 to present day' - Royal Navy Submarine Museum

"HMS A3" National Heritage List for England
{{DEFAULTSORT:A03 A-class submarines (1903) British submarine accidents Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1903 ships Royal Navy ship names Maritime incidents in 1912 Submarines sunk in collisions Warships lost with all hands Ships sunk as targets Lost submarines of the United Kingdom Shipwrecks in the English Channel Wreck diving sites in the United Kingdom