HMS E15
Wreck of the E15 inspected by Turkish and German personnel.
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched: | 23 April 1914 |
| Commissioned: | 1914 |
| Fate: | run aground on 16 April, destroyed 18 April 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 54.86 m |
| Beam: | 6.86 m |
| Draught: | 3.81 m |
| Propulsion: | Twin-shaft, 2 × 800 bhp Vickers diesel, 2 × 420 shp electric motors |
| Speed: |
|
| Range: | 325 nm surfaced |
| Endurance: | 24 days |
| Complement: | 3 officers, 28 ratings |
| Armament: |
|
HMS E15 was an E-class submarine of the Royal Navy, commissioned in 1914.
Like all post-E8 British E-class submarines, E15 had a displacement of 662 tonnes (730 short tons) at the surface and 807 tonnes (890 short tons) while submerged. She had a total length of 180 feet (55 m) and a beam length of 22 feet 8.5 inches (6.922 m). She was powered by two 800 horsepower (600 kW) Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two 420 horsepower (310 kW) electric motors. The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) and a submerged speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). British E-class submarines had fuel capacities of 50 tonnes (55 short tons) of diesel and ranges of 3,255 miles (5,238 km; 2,829 nmi) when travelling at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).E15 was capable of operating submerged for five hours when travelling at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph).
As with most of the early E class boats, E15 was not fitted with a deck gun during construction but, as a vessel engaged in the Dardanelles campaign, later had a 12-pounder QF gun fitted, forward of the conning tower, at Malta Dockyard. She had five 18 inches (460 mm) torpedo tubes, 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 1 kilowatt (1.3 hp) power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to 3 kilowatts (4.0 hp) systems by removing a midship torpedo tube. Their maximum design depth was 100 feet (30 m) although in service some reached depths of below 200 feet (61 m). Some submarines contained Fessenden oscillator systems.
Her complement was three officers and 28 men.
During World War I, E15 served in the Mediterranean, participating in the Gallipoli Campaign against the Ottoman Empire. On 16 April 1915, under the command of Lieutenant Commander T.S. Brodie, E15 sailed from her base at Mudros and attempted to break through the Dardanelles to the Sea of Marmara. Early in the morning of 17 April, the submarine, having dived too deep and become caught in the vicious current, ran aground some ten miles (16 km) in near Kepez Point directly under the guns of Fort Dardanos. E15 was soon hit and disabled; Brodie was killed in the conning tower by shrapnel and six of the crew were killed by chlorine gas released when the submarine's batteries were exposed to seawater after a second shell strike. Forced to evacuate the vessel, the remaining crew surrendered, to be incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp near Istanbul where six later died.
...
Wikipedia