HMAS AE2
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 The HMAS AE2, in dock in Sydney, circa 1914 |
|
| Career (Australia) |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Vickers Armstrong |
| Laid down: | 10 February 1912 |
| Launched: | 18 June 1913 |
| Commissioned: | 28 February 1914 |
| Fate: | Scuttled 29 April 1915 |
| 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) |
| Range: | 3,225 nmi (5,973 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) (submerged) 25 nmi (46 km) at 5 knots (9 km/h) (dived) |
| Complement: | 35 |
| Armament: | 4 x 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes |
HMAS AE2 (originally known as AE2) was an E-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was commissioned into the RAN at Portsmouth on 28 February 1914 and was scuttled less than a year later in the Sea of Marmara after being hit by an enemy torpedo during the Battle of Gallipoli of World War I.
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[edit] History
[edit] Commissioned
AE2 was built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, England and was commissioned at Portsmouth, England, on 28 February 1914 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Henry H.G.D. Stoker, RN.[1]
Accompanied by her sister ship HMAS AE1, the other of the Royal Australian Navy's first two submarines, AE1 reached Sydney from England on 24 May 1914, manned by Royal Navy officers with a mixed crew of sailors drawn from the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy.[1]
[edit] Deployment
On the outbreak of World War I in September 1914, AE2 proceeded with AE1 to capture German New Guinea as part of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force. With the simple surrender of the Germans complete, although with the loss of AE1, in October, AE2 sailed first to Suva, Fiji, then to Sydney and then onto Albany, Western Australia.
On 31 December 1914 she was towed from Albany by the SS Berrima as part of a Troop Convoy 2 across the Indian Ocean, arriving at Port Said, Egypt, on 28 January 1915. AE2 was ordered to join the British 2nd Submarine Flotilla on the island of Tenedos and proceeded to take part in patrols.[2]
[edit] Dardanelles Campaign
As part of the naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, AE2 made its first attempt to navigate the Dardanelles straits on 24 April, she penetrated 6 nautical miles (11 km) before being forced back with mechanical problems.[2] At 0230 hours on 25 April 1915 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Henry Dacre Stoker, RAN AE2 again attempted to force her way through the straits. At approximately 0430 hours Stoker dived the boat in response to fire from the Turkish guns. By 0600 hours AE2 reached Chanak the narrowest part of the strait and then proceeded to torpedo the Turkish gunboat Peyk I Sevket while simultaneously taking evasive actions to avoid an enemy destroyer. During the evasion Stoker ran the boat aground directly under a Turkish fort, fortunately the fort was unable to lower its guns onto the AE2. After 4 minutes of being exposed on the bank AE2 slid back into deeper waters.[2]
.jpg/180px-AE2_(AWM_H17538).jpg)
Shortly after grounding a second time the periscope of AE2 was sighted by a Turkish battleship firing over the peninsular at British positions. On sighting the periscope the battleship ceased fire and retreated to a safe position. AE2 continued to make a steady advance toward the Sea of Marmara. At 0830 Stoker decided to rest the boat on the ocean bottom, waiting for the safety of dark. On surfacing he sighted no enemies and proceeded into the Sea of Marmara becoming the first Allied submarine to pass through the Dardanelles Strait.[2]
Stoker signalled his success to his commanders. The commanders of the landings were discussing the possibility of re-embarking the force, the news of AE2's success changed the mood of the conversation and talk of a withdrawal was ended. News of the success of AE2 was spread among Anzac troops to encourage them. AE2 was ordered to Generally run amok, Stoker intended to give the impression that there where multiple submarines in the area. Due to mechanical problems AE2, though making repeated attacks, managed no further hits on Turkish vessels. On 30 April AE2 began to rise uncontrollably and surfaced around 1-nautical-mile (2 km) from the torpedo boat Sultanhisar. Stoker ordered the boat to dive, she went down too deep passing safety levels, then after frantic attempts to resurface the boat she broke surface stern first. Within moments of surfacing she was hit by shellfire, Stoker ordered his crew to abandon ship. All members of the crew survived the attack, though 3 died during the 3 and a half years in captivity. AE2's achievements showed others that the task was possible, within months the Turkish communications line had been badly disrupted.[2]
[edit] Search and discovery
Since 1995, Selçuk Kolay, director of the Rahmi Koç Museum in Istanbul, had searched for the remains of AE2.[3] In 1996 he discovered what he believed to be the wreck lying in 86 metres of water. With the assistance of an Australian diving team, which visited Turkey to dive on the wreck in October 1997, it was determined that the wreck was that of an old steamer.[1]
After a further thorough side-scan sonar and magnetometric survey of the reported scuttling site of the AE2, Kolay located AE2 in June 1998, lying in 72 metres of water, and was first dived upon the following month. An Australian dive team again visited Turkey in October 1998, with further dives confirming the identification of AE2.[1] The team leader for both the 1997 and 1998 expeditions was Dr Mark Spencer. Pictures from those expeditions, plus underwater pictures, can be seen at his web site.[4]
On September 9, 2007, Australian and Turkish naval authorities began an undersea investigation to determine whether the AE2 can be raised and restored.[5] The survey team has identified that there's been significant damage to the casing of the submarine. The expedition's director of operations, Terry Roach, has told how "Fishing nets have obviously dragged at the casing and dislodged some of it, and it is markedly different from what it was before."[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d HMAS AE2 - HMA Ship Histories. Sea Power Centre - Australia. Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
- ^ a b c d e David, Stevens (2001). The Royal Australian Navy - A History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195555422.
- ^ The discovery of the WW1 Australian submarine. Heritage Council of NSW.
- ^ Spencer, Mark. "AE2 Expeditions, 1997 and 1998"
- ^ Brenchley, Fred. "Gallipoli's valiant sub poised to surface from the depths of history", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2007-09-10.
- ^ Bevan, Scott. "Looking beneath the surface of the Gallipoli campaign", News Online, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2007-09-11.
[edit] External links
- AE2 1997 and 1998 Expeditions, History and Pictures History of AE2 and expedition notes on the discovery and verification of the wreck.
- The Diary of Albert Edward Knaggs RAN of AE2
- Copping, Jasper. "Henry Stoker: sailor, sportsman, actor, hero", The Telegraph, 26 February 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-26.
- British and Australian Submarines in the Dardanelles, 1915 Includes a full animation of the AE2's passage of the Dardanelles on 24-29 April 1915. The presentation is based on Lieutenant-Commander Henry Stoker's report of the voyage submitted after the end of the war and published in Arthur Jose, The Royal Australian Navy 1914-1918, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Sydney, 1941, pp.242-248.
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