HMAS AE1
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.jpg/300px-AE1_(AWM_P01075041).jpg) HMAS AE1 underway in 1914 |
|
| Career (Australia) |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Vickers Armstrong |
| Laid down: | 14 November 1911 |
| Launched: | 22 May 1913 |
| Commissioned: | 28 February 1914 |
| Fate: | Lost at Sea 14 September 1914 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 660 tons (surfaced), 800 tons (submerged) |
| Length: | 181 ft (55 m) |
| Beam: | 22 ft 6 in (6.9 m) |
| Draught: | 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 sets of 8 cylinder diesel engines, battery driven electric motors. 1,750 hp (surfaced), 550 hp (submerged) |
| Speed: | 15 knots (surfaced), 10 knots (submerged) |
| Complement: | 35 |
| Armament: | 4 x 18-inch torpedo tubes |
HMAS AE1 (originally known as just AE1) was an E-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was the first submarine to serve in the RAN and was lost at sea near East New Britain, Papua New Guinea, with all hands, during World War I, after less than seven months in service. The wreck of the submarine has never been found.
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[edit] History
[edit] Commissioning
AE1 was laid down by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, England on 14 November 1911, launched on 22 May 1913 and commissioned on 28 February 1914.[1] After commissioning AE1, accompanied by her sister ship HMAS AE2, the other of the Royal Australian Navy's first two submarines, reached Sydney from England on 24 May 1914. Both submarines were manned by Royal Navy officers with a mixed crew of sailors drawn from the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy.[2]
[edit] Deployment
At the outbreak of WWI, AE1, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Thomas Besant, RN, was sent to capture German New Guinea as part of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force. With her sister ship AE2, she took part in the operations leading to the occupation of the German territory, including the surrender of Rabaul on 13 September 1914.
At 0700hrs on 14th of September she departed Blanche Bay, Rabaul, to patrol off Cape Gazelle with HMAS Parramatta, when she had not returned by 2000hrs, several ships were dispatched to search for her. No trace of her was ever found and she was listed as lost with all hands. It is probable that she was wrecked on a reef or other submerged object.[2] As well as LCDR Besant, two other officers and 32 sailors were lost in this disaster. The disappearance was Australia's first major loss of World War I.[2]
[edit] Searches
The Maritime Museum of Western Australia, sponsored by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, launched an unsuccessful attempt to locate the submarine in November 2003. The search area was concentrated to the south-east of the Duke of York Islands.[3]
In February 2007, a new effort to locate the submarine was mounted by the Royal Australian Navy when the survey ships HMAS Benalla and HMAS Shepparton attempted to locate the submarine off East New Britain, based on data compiled over the past 30 years.[2] HMAS Benalla located an object of the appropriate dimensions using sonar on 1 March.[4][5] Later identification conducted by HMAS Yarra confirmed though that this object is a rock with the same approximate dimensions.[6][7]
[edit] References
- ^ HMAS AE1 - HMA Ships Histories. Sea Power Centre Australia. Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
- ^ a b c d "Navy to hunt for lost sub", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2007-02-26. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
- ^ Green, Jeremy (2003). The search for the AE1 (PDF). Department of Maritime Archaeology. Western Australian Maritime Museum. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
- ^ Aust WWI submarine believed found off PNG. ABC Online (2007-03-01). Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
- ^ AAP (2007-03-01). Missing WWI sub may have been found. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
- ^ Australian Navy finds 'submarine' rock. Radio Australia (2007-05-30). Retrieved on 2007-05-30.
- ^ Resurface of mystery. Australian Government, Department of Defence (2007-06-14).
[edit] Further reading
- Foster, John (2006). AE1 Entombed: But Not Forgotten. Loftus, N.S.W.: Australian Military History Publications. ISBN 187643953X.
[edit] External links
- PNG - The Search for the AE1 - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Foreign Correspondent
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