HMS H5
Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMS H5 was a British H-class submarine of the Royal Navy that served in the First World War. The boat, which was launched on 1 April 1915, was lost after being rammed by a British merchant ship off Caernarfon Bay in March 1918. It had been mistaken as a German U-boat and sank with the loss of all hands.[1]
Design
Like all pre-H11 British H-class submarines, H5 had a displacement of Template:Convert at the surface and Template:Convert while submerged.[2] It had a total length of Template:Convert, a beam of Template:Convert, and a draught of Template:Convert.[3] It contained a diesel engines providing a total power of Template:Convert and two electric motors each providing Template:Convert power.[3] The use of its electric motors made the submarine travel at Template:Convert. It would normally carry Template:Convert of fuel and had a maximum capacity of Template:Convert.[4]
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of Template:Convert and a submerged speed of Template:Convert. British H-class submarines had ranges of Template:Convert.[2] H5 was fitted with a Template:Convert Hotchkiss quick-firing gun (6-pounder) and four Template:Convert torpedo tubes. Its torpedo tubes were fitted to the bows and the submarine carried eight Template:Convert torpedoes.[2] She is a Holland 602 type submarine but was designed to meet Royal Navy specifications. Her complement was twenty-two crew members.[2]
Service record
On 14 July 1916 H5 spotted the Template:SMU leaving the Ems and torpedoed her. U-51 sank with the loss of 34 of her crew; four men survived.[5]
Sinking
HMS H5 was sunk after being rammed by the British merchantman Rutherglen when mistaken for a German U-boat on 2 March 1918. All on board perished including a US Navy observer, Lieutenant Earle Wayne Freed Childs from the American submarine AL-2. He became the first US submariner to lose his life in the First World War. All on board are commemorated on Panel 29 at Royal Navy Submarine Museum. The wreck's site is designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act. In 2010, a plaque commemorating the 26 crew was dedicated on Armed Forces Day in Holyhead.[6]
References
- MCA website: controlled sites under the Protection of Military Remains Act Template:Webarchive
- SI 2008/950 Designation under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986
Template:Military navigation Template:March 1918 shipwrecks Template:Coord missing
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- ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "template wrapper". Retrieved from Naval-History on 20 August 2015.
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- ↑ National Archives, Kew: HW 7/3, Room 40, History of German Naval Warfare 1914–1918
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