HMS ''E31'' 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
Scotts,
Greenock
Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...
. She was laid down in December 1914, commissioned on 8 January 1916, and sold for scrap on 6 September 1922.
Design
Like all post-''E8''
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, ''E31'' 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''. 149–150. Maritime Books.]
/ref>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, 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.
Service history
HMS ''E31'' was involved in a curious incident when she was operating with the sea plane carrier 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 ...
in an air raid on the Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155â ...
sheds at Tondern on 4 May 1916. While on a mission, ''LZ 32'' was spotted by light cruisers and who opened fire on the airship. Just as they were doing this HMS E31 was operating with the sea plane carrier 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 ...
in an air raid on the Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155â ...
sheds at Tondern on 4 May 1916. ''E31'' surfaced and spotted the airship, but being vulnerable on the surface, the sub dived to avoid attack. When the submarine put its 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 ...
up, it observed that the Zeppelin was losing altitude after being hit by shells from and . ''E31'' then surfaced just in time to get in the fatal shot and brought the Zeppelin down. HMS E31 then proceeded to rescue seven survivors from the crew of ''LZ 32''.
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:E31
British E-class submarines of the Royal Navy
Ships built on the River Clyde
1915 ships
World War I submarines of the United Kingdom
Royal Navy ship names