HMAS AE2

Coordinates: 40°40′21″N 28°04′31″E / 40.672371°N 28.075218°E / 40.672371; 28.075218
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

HMAS AE2, in dock in Sydney, c. 1914
History
Australia
Builder
Vickers Armstrong
Laid down10 February 1912
Launched18 June 1913
Commissioned28 February 1914
Honours and
awards
  • Battle honours:
  • Rabaul 1914
  • Dardanelles 1915
Fate
Scuttled
, 30 April 1915
General characteristics
Class and typeE-class submarine
Displacement750 long tons (762 t) surfaced
Length181 ft (55 m)
Beam22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Draught12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Installed power
  • 2 × 8-cylinder diesels, 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) surfaced,
  • battery-driven electric motors, 840 hp (630 kW) submerged
Propulsion2 ×
propeller shafts
Speed
  • 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced
  • 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) submerged
Range
  • 3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
  • 65 nmi (120 km; 75 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged
Test depth200 feet (61.0 m)
Complement34
Armament4 ×
18-inch torpedo tubes

HMAS AE2 (originally known as AE2) was an

Vickers Armstrong in England and was commissioned into the RAN in 1914. Together with her sister submarine, HMAS AE1
, the boat then sailed to Australia in what was, at the time, the longest voyage ever undertaken by a submarine.

After the start of World War I, AE2 was sent to

Dardanelles Campaign, and was the first submarine to successfully penetrate the waterway and enter the Sea of Marmara. With orders to "run amok" inside Turkish territory, AE2 operated for five days before mechanical faults forced her to the surface, where she was damaged by the torpedo boat Sultanhisar. The submarine was scuttled
by her crew, all of whom were captured.

AE2 was the only RAN vessel lost to enemy action during World War I. The Rahmi M. Koç Museum began searching for the wreck in 1995, and found it in 1998. After another expedition in 2008, the Australian and Turkish Governments decided to leave the boat in place.

Description

The E class was a version of the preceding D-class submarine enlarged to accommodate an additional pair of broadside torpedo tubes.[1] AE2 was 181 feet (55.2 m) long overall, had a beam of 22 feet 6 inches (6.9 m) and a draught of 12 feet 6 inches (3.8 m).[2] She displaced 750 long tons (762 t) on the surface[3] and 810 long tons (823 t) submerged. The E-class boats had a designed diving depth of 100 feet (30.5 m), but the addition of watertight bulkheads strengthened the hull and increased the actual diving depth to 200 feet (61.0 m).[1] The crew consisted of 34 officers and ratings.[2]

The boat had two propellers, each of which was driven by an eight-cylinder,[3] 800-brake-horsepower (600 kW) diesel engine as well as a 420-brake-horsepower (313 kW) electric motor. This arrangement gave the E-class submarines a maximum speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) while surfaced and 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) submerged.[2] They carried approximately 40 long tons (41 t)[1] of fuel oil that gave them a range of 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) while on the surface[2] and 65 nmi (120 km; 75 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) while submerged.[1]

AE2 had four

bow and stern, plus two on the broadside, one firing to port and the other to starboard. The boat carried one spare torpedo for each tube. No guns were fitted.[2]

Construction and service

AE2 was

Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, England, and launched on 18 June 1913. She was commissioned into the RAN at Portsmouth, England, on 28 February 1914 under the command of Lieutenant Henry H.G.D. Stoker, RN.[4] Accompanied by her sister boat, AE1, the other of the RAN's first two submarines, AE2 reached Sydney from England on 24 May 1914, manned by Royal Navy (RN) officers with a mixed crew of sailors drawn from the RN and RAN.[4] The 13,000-nautical-mile (24,000 km; 15,000 mi) journey was, at the time, "the longest submarine transit in history", and 60 of the 83 days of the voyage were spent at sea.[3][4]

Outbreak of World War I

On the outbreak of World War I in September 1914, the two submarines were assigned to the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force as it captured German New Guinea.[5] During the capture of New Guinea, AE1 disappeared without a trace.[5] After the German surrender, AE2 spent three weeks patrolling around Fiji with the battlecruiser Australia, then returned to Sydney on 16 November for maintenance and repairs.[6][4]

As AE2 was the only submarine in the region and the German threat to Australia had disappeared, Stoker suggested that the boat be transferred to Europe.

Dardanelles Campaign.[6][8]

Dardanelles Campaign

See also:
Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign

On 10 March, the submarine

Mudros when returning from a patrol, as the harbour lights used to aid navigation had been switched off in AE2's absence, which Stoker was not prepared for. The submarine was towed to Malta for repairs and returned to operation in April.[9]

The aim of the Dardanelles Campaign was to knock Germany's ally, the

Vice Admiral John de Robeck.[12]

HMAS AE2

AE2's first attempt was made early on 24 April, but the boat only made it 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) into the strait before the forward

Chanak, and proceeded to torpedo a Turkish gunboat believed to be a Peyk-i Şevket-class cruiser while simultaneously taking evasive actions to avoid an enemy destroyer.[12][14] The submarine ran aground beneath a Turkish fort, but the fort's guns could not be lowered enough to fire, and AE2 was able to free herself within four minutes.[12] Shortly after, the submarine's periscope was sighted by a Turkish battleship firing over the peninsula at the Allied landing sites; this prompted the ship to stop firing and withdraw.[12] AE2 advanced toward the Sea of Marmara, and at 08:30, Stoker decided to rest the boat on the ocean bottom and wait until nightfall before continuing.[12]

At around 21:00, AE2 surfaced to recharge her batteries, and Stoker radioed his success back to the fleet; the first Allied vessel to transit the Dardanelles.

William Birdwood was pushing for reembarkation of his troops.[12] Some sources identify AE2 as one of the factors leading to Birdwood's decision to commit to the attack, although the Australian War Memorial claims there "is no real evidence" to support this.[16][17]

The submarine made appearances across the Sea of Marmara over the following five days to give the impression of multiple boats, and several attacks against Turkish ships were made, although all failed because of increasing mechanical problems.[16] News of the submarine's successes was spread to the soldiers ashore to improve morale.[16] On 29 April, AE2 met E14, one of several submarines that had entered the Dardanelles following the Australian boat's successful attempt.[17] The submarines arranged a rendezvous for the next morning.[4][17] When AE2 reached the rendezvous point on 30 April, smoke from the torpedo boat Sultanhisar was sighted, so the submarine dived and moved to investigate.[17] At 10:30, about a mile from the torpedo boat, AE2 inexplicably rose and broke the surface.[4] While diving to evade, the boat passed below her safe diving depth; frantic attempts to correct this caused the submarine's stern to break the surface.[16] Sultanhisar immediately fired on the submarine, puncturing the pressure hull in three places near the engine spaces.[4][13][16] Stoker ordered the boat's company to evacuate, and scuttled AE2 at 10:45'.[16][4] All personnel survived the attack and were captured by Sultanhisar, although four died from illness while in captivity.[4][17] AE2's achievements showed others that the task was possible, and within months Turkish shipping and lines of communication were badly disrupted, with supplies and reinforcements for the Turkish defence of Gallipoli forced to take underdeveloped overland routes.[16][17][11] AE2 was the only RAN vessel to be lost as a result of enemy action during World War I, and along with sister boat AE1, the total of the RAN's operational losses in the war.[18]

Search and discovery

Western Australian Maritime Museum

Since 1995, Selçuk Kolay, director of the Rahmi M. Koç Museum in Istanbul, had searched for the remains of AE2.[19] In 1996, he discovered what he believed to be the wreck lying in 86 metres (282 ft) of water.[4] With the assistance of an Australian diving team, it was determined in October 1997 that the wreck was that of an old steamer.[4] After a further thorough side-scan sonar and magnetometric survey of the reported scuttling site of the AE2, Kolay located the submarine in June 1998, lying in 72 metres (236 ft) of water.[4] The wreck was first dived in July, while subsequent dives by an Australian team in October were able to confirm the wreck as being AE2.[4] The Australian government makes no claim to the shipwreck, and the submarine is not a war grave.[20][21]

On 9 September 2007, Australian and Turkish naval authorities began an undersea investigation to determine if AE2 could be raised and restored.

sacrificial anodes to reduce corrosion, along with buoys and a surveillance system to mark the wreck and detect unauthorised access and potential damage.[24]

In March 2010, following an overhaul of the RAN battle honours system, AE2 was retroactively awarded the honours "Rabaul 1914" and "Dardanelles 1915".[25][26]

An ROV exploration of the wreck by the

sacrificial anodes were fitted to the wreck, and the location was marked with a buoy to minimize damage by passing ships.[27]

Legacy

In 2009, Edith Cowan University was commissioned by the National Archives of Australia to research and produce a computer game/simulation called AE2 Commander, funded under the $15,000 Ian Maclean Award. As well as being a realistic WWI submarine simulation, it is investigating how original archival sources can be used as part of computer simulation and serious gaming. An initial version of the AE2 Commander game and website went live on 17 April 2011. The game presents a combination of digitised documents from the collections of the National Archives of Australia and Australian War Memorial along with the embodiment of various archival sources in the setting and narrative of the game.[28][29]

Commemorative bronze plaques have been installed along sites associated with AE2's voyage from Australia to the Dardanelles.[30] A Defence Housing estate under construction in Ermington, New South Wales, on the site of a former naval ammunition store is to be named AE2.[31] In recent years, AE2 has been referred to as the Silent ANZAC.[30][32]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d Harrison, Chapter 4: Pre-1914 Saddle Tank Types D & E Classes
  2. ^ a b c d e Gillette, Australian & New Zealand Warships, 1914–1945, p. 47
  3. ^ a b c Frame, No Pleasure Cruise, p. 97
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "HMAS AE2". Sea Power Centre – Australia. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  5. ^ a b Stevens, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 36
  6. ^ a b c d e f Stevens, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 44
  7. ^ Frame, No Pleasure Cruise, p. 115
  8. ^ White, in Oldham, 100 Years of the Royal Australian Navy, p. 129
  9. ^ White, in Oldham, 100 Years of the Royal Australian Navy, pp. 129–30
  10. ^ Stevens, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, pp. 44–45
  11. ^ a b c d Preston, Submarine Warfare, p. 34
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Stevens, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 45
  13. ^ a b c White, in Oldham, 100 Years of the Royal Australian Navy, p. 130
  14. ^ Jose, The Royal Australian Navy, 1914–1918, p. 242
  15. ^ Frame, No Pleasure Cruise, p. 119
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Stevens, in Stevens, The Royal Australian Navy, p. 46
  17. ^ a b c d e f "AE2 (1914–1915)". Australians at War. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  18. ^ Frame, No Pleasure Cruise, p. 128
  19. ^ "The discovery of the WW1 Australian submarine". Heritage Council of NSW. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007.
  20. ^ a b Brenchley, Fred (15 September 2007). "Weight of water and concern over Gallipoli reminder". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  21. ^ a b c d Brenchley, Fred (6 May 2008). "Gallipoli sub to be left on sea floor". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  22. ^ Brenchley, Fred (10 September 2007). "Gallipoli's valiant sub poised to surface from the depths of history". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
  23. ^ Smith, Tim (10 June 2008). "Report to the Australian Government on the Assessment Phase HMAS AE2" (PDF). AE2 Commemorative Foundation. pp. 15–16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 January 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  24. ^ a b Australian Associated Press (28 April 2008). "Gallipoli sub to be left on sea floor". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  25. ^ "Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours". Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  26. ^ "Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours" (PDF). Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  27. ^ Rago, Lauren (3 July 2014). "First World War wreck AE2 recorded and preserved in the Sea of Marmara". Navy Daily. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  28. ^ "Ian Maclean Award 2009". National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 27 March 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  29. ^ "AE2 Commander Website". Edith Cowan University. Archived from the original on 3 June 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  30. ^ a b "HMAS AE2 – The Silent Anzac Project Brief March 2010" (PDF). AE2 Commemorative Foundation. 19 March 2010. pp. 4, 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  31. ^ Townsend, Luke (14 October 2012). "West gets a bonanza". The Sunday Telegraph. p. 26.
  32. ^ Glenday, James (25 April 2015). "Anzac Day 2015: Australia's pioneering AE2 submarine remembered in Dardanelles ceremony". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 May 2015.

References

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMAS AE2 (submarine, 1913).


40°40′21″N 28°04′31″E / 40.672371°N 28.075218°E / 40.672371; 28.075218

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