British B class submarine

The B class was a class of eleven submarines of the Royal Navy, built by Vickers and launched in 1904–1906. Most served in World War I.

Design

The B class was similar in design to the A class, intended for coastal patrol work. The boats had petrol engines for surface propulsion and batteries for underwater propulsion. The design was intended to overcome the limitations of speed, endurance and seakeeping that affected the boats of the A class, and the boats were substantially longer and heavier. Improvements were made to surface speed, about 10 to 12 knots (19 to 22 km/h) for the A class, and endurance (600 to 1300 nautical miles (1100 to 2400 km), but the underwater speed of 7 knots (13 km/h) was much the same. Seakeeping was improved by the addition of a deck casing, and underwater manoeuvrability by the addition of hydroplanes.

History

"B2" sank off Dover on 4 October 1912 after colliding with SS "Amerika".

By World War I, the boats of this class were obsolescent, and some were quickly relegated to training duties.

"B6" to "B11" were sent to the Mediterranean on the outbreak of World War I. On 13 December 1914, "B11", commanded by Lieutenant Norman Douglas Holbrook, entered the Dardanelles and torpedoed the Turkish battleship "Mesudiye".

Due to lack of spare parts, these boats ceased to be used after 1915, and were converted to surface patrol boats and renamed "S6" to "S11". "S10" was sunk on 9 August 1916 by Austrian air attack. The remaining boats served in the Adriatic and at Malta.


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