HMS ''E20'' was a

British E-class submarine The British E-class submarines started out as improved versions of the British D-class submarine. The E class served with the Royal Navy throughout World War I as the backbone of the submarine fleet. The last surviving E class submarines we ...

built by

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 ...

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 ...

. She was laid down on 25 November 1914 and was commissioned on 30 August 1915. She was sunk, torpedoed by , on 6 November 1915.

Design

Like all post-''E8''

s, ''E20'' had a displacement of at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of and a beam of . She was powered by two Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two electric motors.Akerman, P. (1989). ''Encyclopaedia of British submarines 1901–1955''. p.150. Maritime Books. The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of . British E-class submarines had fuel capacities of of diesel and ranges of when travelling at . ''E20'' was capable of operating submerged for five hours when travelling at . ''E20'' was fitted, possibly uniquely within her class, with a 6-inch

howitzer The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose w ...

, forward of the

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 ...

. She had five 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, two in the

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

, one either side amidships, and one in the stern; a total of 10 torpedoes were carried. E-class submarines had wireless systems with power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to systems by removing a midship torpedo tube. Their maximum design depth was although in service some reached depths of below . Some submarines contained

Fessenden oscillator A Fessenden oscillator is an electro-acoustic transducer invented by Reginald Fessenden, with development starting in 1912 at the Submarine Signal Company of Boston. It was the first successful acoustical echo ranging device. Similar in operat ...

systems.

Crew

Her

complement Complement may refer to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class collections into complementary sets * Complementary color, in the visu ...

was three officers and 28 men.

Loss

Operating in the eastern Mediterranean, ''E20'' was scheduled to rendez-vous with the on 6 November 1915. However, on 30 October,

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

forces sank the ''Turquoise'' off

Nagara Point Nara Burnu ( Turkish "Cape Nara"), formerly Nağara Burnu, in English Nagara Point, and in older sources Point Pesquies, is a headland on the Anatolian side of the Dardanelles Straits, north of Çanakkale. It is the narrowest and, with , the deepe ...

in the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

, refloating her shortly afterwards, her confidential papers retrieved intact. Unaware of her plight, ''E20'' attempted to keep the rendez-vous. The

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...

submarine ''UB-14'', which was at

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, was duly sent to intercept ''E20'',Stern, p. 31. reportedly going so far as to radio messages in the latest British code.Grant, p. 33. Upon arriving at the designated location, ''UB-14'' surfaced and fired a torpedo at ''E20'' from a distance of . ''E20''s crew saw the torpedo, but it was too late to avoid the weapon.Stern, p. 32. The torpedo hit ''E20''s conning tower and sank her with the loss of 21 men. ''UB-14'' rescued nine, including ''E20''s captain who, reportedly, had been brushing his teeth at the time of the attack.Stern, p. 34.

Citations

References

* *

External links

'Submarine losses 1904 to present day' - Royal Navy Submarine Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:E20 British E-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1915 ships World War I submarines of the United Kingdom Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I Maritime incidents in Turkey Shipwrecks in the Sea of Marmara Royal Navy ship names Maritime incidents in 1915 Submarines sunk by submarines