Another First World War wreck comes to light

A Swedish company has announced that it's located the wreck of the British submarine E-18, part of the Royal Navy's Baltic submarine flotilla during World War I.

HM Submarine E-18 in September 1915, after passing through the Øresund. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

A Swedish news report states:

Together with five other submarines the HMS E18 was sent to the Baltic to support Russia. The vessel was last seen during routine exercises in May 1916, and has since then been recorded as missing without trace.

But with the help of maps detailing the location of mines littering the Baltic Sea bed the expedition, led by the diver Carl Douglas together with the Swedish firm Marin Mätteknik, located the submarine off the coast of the Estonian island of Dagö.

When the HMS E18 was found the submarine's hatch was open which indicates that the vessel was at the surface when it experienced problems.

On board the vessel when it disappeared were stationed 30 British and three Russian seamen.

There's more at the link.

This discovery is of particular interest due to the class of submarine involved. The E-class was Britain's most numerous and most successful submarine design of the First World War, serving from the Baltic to the Dardanelles.

World War I-era diagram showing respective sizes of the first five classes
of British submarines, A through E. (Click the image for a larger view.)

58 E-class submarines were built for the Royal and Royal Australian Navies, in several groups or sub-classes. They were of approximately 800 tons submerged displacement, and were armed with a 12-pounder quick-firing cannon and lighter weapons, plus four or five tubes for 18" torpedoes, one or two at the bow, two on the beam amidships, and one at the stern. Indeed, they were so successful that their design was used as the basis for later submarine classes of the World War II era.

HMS E-11 being launched in 1914, showing a bow torpedo tube.

Several Victoria Cross decorations were awarded to their Commanding Officers, most notably Lieutenant-Commander Martin Dunbar-Nasmith (1915, HMS E-11) and Lieutenant-Commander Courtney Boyle and Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Saxon-White, both of whom would win the VC in command (successively) of HMS E-14. Some E-class submarine skippers of World War I would go on to be Admirals commanding the British submarine force and other important elements of the Royal Navy during World War II. Most famous among them was probably Admiral Sir Max Horton, Admiral (Submarines) during the early part of the war, then Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches from late 1942-1945, in charge of defending British convoys against German U-boats. (This was perhaps the all-time classic application of the old adage, 'set a thief to catch a thief'!)

The Royal Navy's Baltic submarine flotilla operated in Germany's naval 'back yard' from 1915 to 1918 in support of Russia, Britain's ally. It had a total of six E-class and five smaller C-class submarines. It lost only E-18 to enemy action during the war, although two other submarines were scuttled after running aground in the shallow, frequently inadequately-charted Baltic waters. The remaining submarines of the flotilla were scuttled off Helsinki in 1918 to prevent their capture by advancing German land forces, and their crews were evacuated via North Russia to England.

E-18 was commanded for her entire career by Lieutenant-Commander R. C. Halahan. He seems to have been quite a character. E-class submarines weren't equipped with a fully flushing toilet system, relying on buckets instead. As the BBC reports:

E18, which was launched in early 1915, was once bombed by a Zeppelin airship after its captain, Lt Cdr Robert Halahan, surfaced so he could go to the loo on deck rather than in the cramped conditions down below. As such, he was literally caught with his pants down.

Must have been embarrassing! However, E-18 escaped damage on this occasion, only to vanish on patrol the following year.

The discoverers have released this video clip of E-18 on the seabed.

They plan to determine exactly what sank E-18 (from initial examination of the wreckage, the ship appears to have struck a mine), and will prepare a comprehensive report of what they discover. Since E-18 is a declared war grave, I trust they won't disturb her, or the remains of her crew, more than necessary.

Peter