HM Submarine X1
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| Career |  |
| Ordered: | na |
| Laid down: | November 2 1921 |
| Launched: | September 23 1925 |
| Commissioned: | December 1925 |
| Decommissioned: | 1936 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1937. |
| Struck: | na |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 2,780 tons surfaced 3,600 tons submerged |
| Length: | 363.5 feet (110.8 m) |
| Beam: | 29.75 feet (9 m) |
| Draught: | na |
| Propulsion: | 2 x MAN 6,000 hp (4,474 kW) diesel engines
2,600 hp (1,939 kW) electric motor. |
| Speed: | maximum 19.5 knots (36 km/h) surfaced,
maximum 9 knots (16 km/h) dived |
| Range: | 12,400 nautical miles (22,964 km) surfaced |
| Complement: | 110 (8 officers and 102 ratings) |
| Armament: | 6 x 21 inch (533 mm) bow torpedo tubes
two x twin 5.2 inch guns 4 x machine-guns |
for the midget submarine of the Second World War, see X class submarine
HM Submarine X1 was, conceived and designed as a submersible commerce raider for the Royal Navy. The idea of a submarine cruiser had been mooted as early as 1915, but was not put into practice until 1921. X1 was laid down on the 2 November 1921 at the Naval Dockyard Chatham and completed on 23 September 1925, commissioning in December 1925. MAN diesel engines had been fitted to her as they had been seen to be efficient when fitted in German U-boats of the First World War. Unfortunately, in the case of X1 this did not occur and she was to suffer with engine problems all her short life.
She was larger than any other submarine previously built and besides her six 21-inch bow torpedo tubes she carried two twin 5.2 inch gun turrets - one fore and one aft of the conning tower. In theory she could make 19.5 knots (36 km/h) on the surface, and at economical speed she had a greater range than normal cruisers; but her diesel engines suffered from continual mechanical problems and she was plainly vulnerable to counter-fire from ships and bombing by aircraft.
The design concept was that she should be able to sink or disable a destroyer at a range of 6,000 yards (5,500 m) with her guns alone, but in practice this was unlikely, as the low height above the water of the range-finding equipment and the unsteady nature of a submarine made this craft inherently unsuitable as a gun platform.
X1 was placed in Reserve in 1933, taken off the active list in 1936, and finally scrapped in 1937. As such she became the only vessel designed and built for and scrapped by the Royal Navy between the two World Wars.
[edit] See also
- British M class submarine - an earlier attempt at a gun equipped submarine
- Surcouf - a similar French large gun-armed submarine
