K-class (UK)

History

This group of British K-class submarines is considered one of the worst (if not the worst) military submarines in the Royal Navy's turbulent history. Twenty-one was planned from the beginning, although only seventeen were completed during the First World War (1914-1918), six of which were lost and none were acted upon by the enemy.

The series operated from 1917 to 1931 and various builders were involved in its construction: HM Dockyard Portsmouth/Devonport, Armstrong Whitworth, Beardmore and Vickers are just some of the famous names.

Design work on the Royal Navy's new "K-class" ships began in 1915 as Britain's involvement in World War I continued to increase. The service was looking for a fast ocean-going attack platform that could keep up with the main battle fleet, and built the "J-Class" in response, but found that its diesel arrangement prevented it from reaching the desired speed (24 knots was the desired speed).

This led to the decision to use steam to power the new attack submarine.

Thus, the K-class arrangement consisted of two oil-fired Yarrow boiler units powering a pair of Brown-Curtis (or Parsons) geared steam turbines, which in turn drove a pair of screws. Four electric motors have been installed for underwater operation, and a Vickers diesel generator will be used to charge the ship's battery pack when the boat comes to the surface. All told, almost half of the K-Class's interior is reserved for the powerplant.

The new boat is expected to reach 24 knots when surfaced, 8 knots underwater, and a range of up to 800 nautical miles. However, when the ship sank, the turbines had to be shut down completely.

The surface displacement reaches 2,000 tons and the diving displacement reaches 2,600 tons. The overall length is 340 feet, the beam is 26.5 feet, and the draft is 20.10 feet.

As an attack platform, the K-class carries 4 x 460mm and 4 x 450mm torpedo tubes (all facing the bow). Another pair of 18-inch tubes were installed on the swivel brackets of the early ships, but were later removed when it was found that they affected seaworthiness.

For surface operations, the boats are equipped with 2 x 4" BL Mk XI deck guns and a 76mm port.

In service, the K-class became one of the poorest submarine offerings in Navy history. They are heavy submarine designs that exhibit poor control and equally poor seaworthiness in rough waters with limited diving capabilities. The hull was tested at fairly shallow depths, which added a layer of concern and instability.

The boiler arrangement was also found to generate a lot of heat when in operation - which proved problematic in the tight spaces of the submarine.

K-class ships are K-1 to K17 and post-war K26. In some cases, many of the group managed to see smudged service records with massive loss of life. In November 1917, K1 accidentally hit K4 and sank.

The K4 itself was nearly split in half and sank (all souls on board) by the K6 after colliding with the K7 in the same event in January 1918 (this was after running aground at Warney Island the previous January). K5 mysteriously disappeared in the Bay of Biscay during an exercise in January 1921, and K13 sank during sea trials in January 1917.

Both K12 and K16 were submerged for some time before the crew was rescued and K15 was sunk, and they lost due to the defeat - the battle took place at the Portsmouth grounds in June 1921.

It was these events that earned the group the ominous name "Kalamity Class".

One of the more notorious cases of bad luck "K-luck" occurred in December 1916 when the K3 was tested with the future King George VI. Instead of the planned gentle dive, the boat inexplicably quickly dived and sunk the bow into the ocean floor, exposing the rest of the submarine to the surface (to further illustrate the boat's embarrassment, her propellers were still running). After twenty minutes in this position, the boat was released and was able to surface safely.

In January 1917 the boiler room flooded, and in May 1918 the ship suffered another nasty accidental dive that damaged her hull.

The K26 was the only ship completed after the end of World War I in November 1918, and she represented an improved form of the series. Changes include the addition of 6 x 21-inch torpedo tubes, upgraded ballast tanks, a taller hull and better (and safer) diving capabilities.

She did not enter service until 1923 and lived until 1931, when she was abandoned due to restrictions imposed by the London Navy U-boat replacement treaty. Most of the remaining classes were stripped of their military value early on and immediately abandoned between 1921 and 1926.

In the entire class, the K7 was the only one to attack an enemy ship in wartime, a German submarine during World War I. Of course, the K7's torpedo hit the target, but didn't explode, causing the K7 to disengage from engagement - a legacy of the forgotten K-Class.

Specification

Basic

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Dimensions

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Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing