HMS A3
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMS A3 was an Template:Sclass2 submarine built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She sank in 1912. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
Design and description
A3 was a member of the first British class of submarines, although slightly larger, faster and more heavily armed than the lead ship, Template:HMS. The submarine had a length of Template:Convert overall, a beam of Template:Convert and a mean draft of Template:Convert. They displaced Template:Convert on the surface and Template:Convert submerged. The A-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 9 ratings.Template:Sfn
For surface running, the boats were powered by a single 16-cylinder Template:Convert Wolseley petrol engine that drove one propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a Template:Convert electric motor. They could reach Template:Convert on the surface and Template:Convert underwater. On the surface, A3 had a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert;Template:Sfn the boat had a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert submerged.Template:Sfn
The boats were armed with two 18-inch (45 cm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They could carry a pair of reload torpedoes, but generally did not as doing so that they had to compensate for their weight by an equivalent weight of fuel.Template:Sfn
Construction and career
A3 was laid down by Vickers, Sons & Maxim as Yard No.295 at Barrow-in-Furness on 6 November 1902 and was launched on 9 May 1903.[1][2] She was commissioned on 13 July 1904.[1] She primarily served as a coastal defense and training submarine in her over seven years of service.
On 2 February 1912, A3, along with several other submarines dispatched from the port of Gosport, conducted training exercises on target ships in the Solent.Template:Sfn Whilst attacking the depot ship Template:HMS, the semi-submerged A3 accidentally collided with its target Template:Convert southwest of the East Princessa Buoy in the eastern Solent.[3] Its rudder and propeller were both disabled, and the holed submarine sank immediately with all 14 hands lost.Template:Sfn The King sent his immediate condolences to the families of the lost seamen.[3]
The submarine was raised from the bottom on 11 March and was brought into the south lock of Portsmouth dockyard the following day, slung below a salvage lighter; the lock was pumped dry so that the 14 bodies could be recovered and the damages surveyed.[4]
After being towed from Portsmouth to Portland Naval Dockyard, the wreck was towed offshore into Weymouth Bay and, after some technical experiments on the hull, it was sunk as a gunnery target by shells from Template:HMS on 17 May 1912.Template:Sfn[5] In July 2016 the wreck of A3 was officially designated as a protected site.[6]
Notes
References
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External links
- MaritimeQuest HMS A3 Pages
- 'Submarine losses 1904 to present day' - Royal Navy Submarine Museum Template:Webarchive
- "HMS A3" National Heritage List for England
Template:Military navigation Template:1912 shipwrecks Template:Recreational dive sites Template:Coord
- Pages with script errors
- Pages with broken file links
- A-class submarines (1903)
- British submarine accidents
- Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness
- 1903 ships
- Royal Navy ship names
- Maritime incidents in 1912
- Submarines sunk in collisions
- Warships lost with all hands
- Ships sunk as targets
- Lost submarines of the United Kingdom
- Shipwrecks in the English Channel
- Wreck diving sites in the United Kingdom