HMS ''E3'' was the third E-class

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 ...

to be constructed, built at Barrow 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 ...

in 1911–1912. Built with compartmentalisation and endurance not previously achievable, these were the best submarines in 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 ...

at the start of 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 ...

. She was sunk in the first ever successful attack on one submarine by another, when she was torpedoed on 18 October 1914 by north of

Schiermonnikoog Schiermonnikoog (; ) is an island, a municipality and national park in the Northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland. It is situated between the islands of Ameland and Rot ...

, the Netherlands.

Design

The early

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 ...

s, from ''E1'' to ''E8'', had a displacement of at the surface and while submerged. They had a

length overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also ...

of and 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 were 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 class had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of , with a fuel capacity of of diesel affording a range of when travelling at 10 knots, while submerged they had a range of at . 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 ratings. The early 'Group 1' E-class boats were armed with four 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, one 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 The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

; a total of eight torpedoes were carried. Group 1 boats were not fitted with a deck gun during construction, but those involved in the Dardanelles campaign had guns mounted forward of the

sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...

while at Malta Dockyard. E-class submarines had wireless systems with 1 kW power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to 3 kW 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.

Service history

When

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

was declared with

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on 5 August 1914, ''E3'' was based at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

, in the

8th Submarine Flotilla The 8th Submarine Flotilla was a flotilla of the British Royal Navy consisting of submarines and their supporting depot ships and destroyers. It was established as part of the Home Fleet in 1912. The flotilla brought together the newer, longer ran ...

of 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 ...

Loss

''E3'' sailed from

on 16 October to patrol off

Borkum Borkum (; ) is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is situated east of Rottumeroog and west of Juist. Geography Borkum is bordered to the west by the Westerems strait (which forms the ...

in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. On 18 October, she spotted some German

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s ahead but was unable to get into a position to take a shot at them. Unable to pass them,

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Cholmley retreated into the bay to wait for them to disperse. As he did so, he failed to see that the bay was also occupied by , under ''Kapitänleutnant'' Bernd Wegener. Wegener was surfaced and patrolling between the

Ems Ems or EMS may refer to: Places and rivers * Domat/Ems, a Swiss municipality in the canton of Grisons * Ems (river) (Eems), a river in northwestern Germany and northeastern Netherlands that discharges in the Dollart Bay * Ems (Eder), a river o ...

and Borkum when at 11:25, an object resembling a

buoy A buoy (; ) is a buoyancy, floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. History The ultimate origin of buoys is unknown, but by 1295 a seaman's manual referred to navig ...

was spotted where no buoy should be. Suspecting a British submarine, ''U-27'' immediately dived and closed the object.Naval Staff Monograph No. 24 1924, pp. 122–123. Although 'conned down', the number 83 was clearly visible on 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 ...

of the British boat, now identified as such beyond reasonable doubt. Wegener tracked the submarine for two hours until able to approach 'up sun'. He noted that the look-outs were staring intently in the other direction, towards the Ems. When the distance had closed to , a single torpedo was fired by ''U-27''. Detonation followed shortly after, and ''E3'' sank immediately. Survivors were visible in the water but fearing a second British submarine might have been lurking nearby, ''U-27'' dived and withdrew. 30 minutes later, the U-boat returned to the scene to search for evidence and possible survivors but without success. All 31 members of ''E3''s crew were lost.Kemp 1999, p. 10.

The wreck

In October 1990, the stern section was snagged by a

fishing boat A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals (e.g. shrimps/prawns, krills, coleoids, etc.) in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial, arti ...

north of

, the Netherlands, which in turn alerted divers from Zeester. The wreck of ''E3'' was discovered on 14 October 1994. The stern of ''E3'' had been blown off in the explosion and was found to be completely detached. The stern section— including the stern torpedo chamber — was later raised. The stern hatch was open, but the nature of the explosion indicates that men in the engine room and motor compartments would have died instantly. The motor and engine rooms are fully exposed and have consequently been looted of all removable fittings, including the

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

.Scheepswrak: E-3
/ref> The sail has been removed by fishing nets and the broken

periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

standards are still evident. The sail ladder is said to have been donated to the

Submarine Museum Submarine Museum () is a museum made out of a decommissioned submarine situated in Klebang, Malacca, Malaysia. The decommissioned submarine is a France-made Agosta class 70 submarine named Quessant (S623), which was used to train the first R ...

but is not officially listed within their collections. ''E3''s torpedo loading hatch is open and the bow section is largely intact.

Citations

References

* *

External links

A movie about the discovery of the E3 with English subtitles'Submarine losses 1904 to present day' - Royal Navy Submarine Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:E03 British E-class submarines of the Royal Navy Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1912 ships World War I submarines of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in October 1914 Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea Lost submarines of the United Kingdom Royal Navy ship names Shipwrecks of the Netherlands Schiermonnikoog