Holland-class submarine
Model of Holland 1 at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum
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| Class overview | |
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| Name: | Holland class |
| Builders: | Vickers, Barrow |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy
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| Preceded by: | none |
| Succeeded by: | A class |
| In commission: | 2 February 1903 - 1914 |
| Completed: | 5 |
| Lost: | 2 |
| Retired: | 3 |
| Preserved: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Submarine |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 63 ft 10 in (19.46 m) |
| Beam: | 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Range: |
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| Complement: | 8 |
| Armament: |
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The Holland class were the first submarines built for the Royal Navy. They were built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. The first three were designed by John Philip Holland. The Hollands were built under licence from the Holland Torpedo Boat Company/Electric Boat Company during the years 1901 to 1903. The Admiralty of the Royal Navy hoped to keep the Holland class a secret and very few senior officers even knew of their existence. This led to the myth of the Admiralty not taking any interest in submarines. On the contrary, the Admiralty was well aware of the submarine's destructive potential. It therefore refrained from any submarine development program so as to avoid provoking similar programs on the part of foreign navies. Once those navies did begin serious submarine programs, the Admiralty had no choice but to begin its own.
Captain Henry Jackson, British naval attaché in Paris, had been instructed to report on submarine developments which had been underway in France for several years. In 1898 he witnessed trials of the privately developed Le Goubet, a small 11-ton submersible designed to be carried on board a warship. In January 1899 he informed the Admiralty of exercises with the 270 ton experimental submarine Gustave Zédé which had been used to launch a torpedo attack on the battleship Magenta. The Board of Admiralty considered whether it needed to act, but rejected further reports that the French had ordered up to a dozen submarines in the light of other reports on the trial suggesting that its outcome had been stage managed for political reasons.
In January 1900, the Washington attaché Captain Charles Ottley reported that the US government was considering purchasing a submarine-boat designed by John Holland and provided the Admiralty with US Navy reports on the boats performance and a set of blueprints. In February the new Paris attaché submitted further favourable reports on the capabilities of Gustave Zédé. Meanwhile, Admiral Fisher commanding the Mediterranean Fleet, which might be required to fight the French, asked the Admiralty for instructions on the best defence against submarines and suggested the use of defensive mines. In May the Admiralty responded by instructing the torpedo school to investigate means of combatting submarines, whereupon they requested a submarine with which to experiment, while in the same month news arrived confirming the US purchase of a Holland boat, USS Holland. First Sea Lord Walter Kerr and the Controller, Rear admiral Arthur Knyvet-Wilson, were convinced of the need to obtain a submarine for the Royal Navy to investigate its capabilities and means to combat submarine attack.
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Wikipedia