"J" Class Submarine (1915)

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Seven "J" Class Submarines were completed during the war. All served in the Royal Navy except J 7, which was in the Royal Australian Navy. The Royal Navy considered these to be "patrol" (as opposed to coastal or fleet) submarines, costing 25% more than the "G" class boats.[1] The five surviving units were transferred to the Australian service after the war.

Performance

The Grand Fleet Battle Orders specified that the top speed on the surface was 19.5 knots, but that a more realistic "sea-going speed" was 16 knots.[2]

Radio

By war's end, all boats of "E" class and later were given 3 kilowatt Poulsen wireless sets, affording ranges of 200 miles submarine-to-submarine, and 300-400 miles between shore stations and submarines. Reception of shore stations of 400 miles was common, and high power shore stations could be received over 500-600 miles.[3]

Torpedoes

  • six 18-in tubes (four forward, two broadside), twelve torpedoes

Guns

Originally, all were to be provided a 12-pdr on an H.A. mounting and a 2-pdr Q.F. gun,[4] but as built the armament seemed to vary.[5]

J 1 - J 4 :

  • one 12-pdr
  • one 3-in H.A.

J 5 - J 7:

  • one 12-pdr H.A.
  • one 2-pdr

Later, all boats were rearmed with 4-in guns.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 21. p. 11.
  2. Golding. Grand Fleet Battle Orders. p. 46.
  3. The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 21. pp. 16-17.
  4. The Technical History and Index, Vol. 4, Part 28. p. 19.
  5. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 91.

Bibliography

  • Gray, Randal (editor) (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).


"J" Class Submarine
J 1 J 2 J 3 J 4 J 5
  J 6 J 7  
<– "G" Class Submarines (UK) "K" Class –>