HMS A5
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Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Infobox ship/subboxTemplate:Infobox ship/subboxTemplate:Infobox ship/subboxTemplate:Infobox ship/subboxHMS A5 was an early Royal Navy submarine. She was a member of Group Two of the first British Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". of submarines. Like all members of her class, she was built at Vickers Barrow-in-Furness.
Design and construction
The A-class was designed by Vickers as an improvement on the previous American designed Holland-class submarines, and were the first class of British-designed submarines.[1] Four submarines, Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".–Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., were ordered as part of the 1902–1903 construction programme for the Royal Navy, with a further nine (A5–Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".) ordered under the 1903–1904 programme.[2] The design of the submarines was revised between the prototype boat, A1, and the other three submarines of the first order, and again for the submarines of the 1903–04 programme, with this batch being fitted with a second torpedo tube.[1]
A5 was Script error: No such module "convert". long overall, with a beam of Script error: No such module "convert". and a draught of Script error: No such module "convert". when surfaced. Displacement was about Script error: No such module "convert". surfaced and Script error: No such module "convert". submerged. A Script error: No such module "convert". 16-cylinder Wolsey petrol engine powered the submarine on the surface, driving the submarine's single propeller shaft, while submerged propulsion was via a Script error: No such module "convert". electric motor, giving a speed of Script error: No such module "convert". on the surface and Script error: No such module "convert". dived. Armament was two 18 inch (45.7 cm) torpedo tubes in the ship's bow. Four torpedoes were carried.[1]
A5 was laid down at Vicker's Barrow-in-Furness shipyard in 1903, was launched on 3 March 1904 and completed on 11 February 1905.[3]
Service history
Immediately after commissioning she and her tender Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". travelled to Queenstown, (now Cobh) Ireland. On 16 February 1905 at 10:05 whilst tied up alongside Hazard an explosion occurred on board, with a second explosion about 30 minutes later. Five of the crew were killed by the explosion. The captain, Lieutenant H J G Good, and the other four crew members survived.[4]
An enquiry into the accident concluded that petrol fumes had been ignited by an electrical spark, with the second explosion caused by smouldering debris from the first event.[4]
She was returned to Barrow-in-Furness the following month for repairs and returned to service in the Home Fleet in October. She was used for training until paid off for disposal in December 1915 and was finally broken up in Portsmouth in 1920.
Memorial
The Irish Naval Service donated a granite block with a brass plaque giving details of the A5 tragedy, and this was unveiled in March 2000.
On 13 February 2005 there was a ceremony to mark the centenary of the accident. Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". of the Irish Naval Service and Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". of the Royal Navy visited Cobh for the occasion.
Citations
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References
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External links
- HMS A5 (Forgotten Submariners) Lost at Cobh
- HMS A-5 Roll of Honour
- 'Submarine Losses 1902 to present day' - Royal Navy Submarine Museum Template:Webarchive
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