HMS ''J6'' was a

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 ...

J-class submarine The J-class submarines were seven submarines developed by the Royal Navy prior to the First World War in response to claims that Germany was developing submarines that were fast enough to operate alongside surface fleets. Six were completed ...

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 ...

by HM Dockyard at Devonport in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

. Commissioned in 1916, she was sunk in a

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy or hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while ...

incident by the

Q-ship Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchantman, armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the c ...

'' Cymric'' in October 1918.

Career

Under her first commanding officer,

Max Horton Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral Sir Max Kennedy Horton, (29 November 1883 – 30 July 1951) was a British submariner during the First World War and commander-in-chief of the Western Approaches Command, Western Approaches in the later half of the ...

, ''J6'' was launched on 9 September 1915 and commissioned on 25 January 1916. She and the other Js were members of the 11th Submarine Flotilla. She served 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 ...

chiefly in operations against German destroyers and

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

s. The closest she got to sinking the enemy was firing a torpedo at ''U-61'', but it missed its target. On 1 December 1917 Horton was replaced as commanding officer of ''J6'' by Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Warburton. In April 1918, Warburton spotted the German

High Seas Fleet The High Seas Fleet () was the battle fleet of the German Empire, German Imperial German Navy, Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. In February 1907, the Home Fleet () was renamed the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpi ...

, which had put to sea in an attempt to hunt down an Allied convoy. Warburton did not identify the fleet as German and did not report his sighting to the Admiralty; had he done so, it is possible that another full scale naval battle may have occurred.

Loss

On 15 October 1918 ''J6'' was on patrol off the Northumberland coast when she was spotted by the Q-ship ''Cymric''. The captain of the ''Cymric'', Lieutenant F Peterson RNR, mistook the identity lettering on the conning tower of ''J6'' for ''U6''. Assuming ''U6'' to indicate a German U-boat, Peterson raised the

White ensign The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign because of the simultaneous existence of a crossless version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cr ...

and opened fire on ''J6''. ''J6'' tried to signal, but the

signalman A signalman is a rank who makes signals using flags and light. The role has evolved and now usually uses electronic communication equipment. Signalmen usually work in rail transport networks, armed forces, or construction (to direct heavy equi ...

was killed. ''J6'' fled into a fog bank, but ''Cymric'' located ''J6'' again and sank her. After a number of direct hits, ''J6'' sank. It was only after the survivors were seen in the water that Peterson and the crew of ''Cymric'' realised their mistake and recovered the survivors. Of the crew of ''J6'', 15 were lost; a subsequent court of enquiry found that no action would be taken against Peterson. An order under the

Official Secrets Act An Official Secrets Act (OSA) is legislation that provides for the protection of Classified information, state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security. However, in its unrevised form (based on the UK Official Secret ...

prohibited mention of this incident until 1969. Late in 2011 it was announced that divers had discovered her wreck off

Seahouses Seahouses is a large village on the North Northumberland coast in England. It is about north of Alnwick, within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Attraction Seahouses attracts many visitors, mainly from the north ea ...

. In the summer of 2013, the Polish Navy salvage ship ORP ''Lech'', searching for the wreck of the Polish submarine ORP ''Orzeł'', surveyed and officially confirmed the identity of ''J6''.

References

Bibliography

* British J-class submarines Ships built in Plymouth, Devon 1915 ships World War I submarines of the United Kingdom Friendly fire incidents of World War I Maritime incidents in 1918 World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea Royal Navy ship names Submarines sunk by British warships {{UK-mil-submarine-stub