Holland 602 type submarine

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The USS H-3 served as the prototype for the class
Class overview
Builders: Vickers Canada
Operators: Naval flag of United States United States Navy
Naval flag of Chile Chilean Navy
Naval flag of United Kingdom Royal Navy
Flag of Russia Imperial Russian Navy
Naval flag of Soviet Union Soviet Navy
Flag of Italy Regia Marina
Flag of Canada Royal Canadian Navy
Naval flag of Netherlands Royal Dutch Navy
Naval flag of Nazi Germany Kriegsmarine
Naval flag of Denmark Royal Danish Navy
In service: 1915
In commission: - 1950
General characteristics
Displacement: 390 tons surfaced
520 tons submerged
Length: 46.00 m
Beam: 4.9 m
Draught: 3.8 m
Speed: surface - 14.5 knots
submerged - 10.5 knots
Complement: 32
Sensors and
processing systems:
Fessenden transducer
Armament: 4 × bow torpedo tubes
(8 torpedoes)
1 × 45 mm semi-automatic gun (200 rounds) or
1 × 47 mm gun
1 × machine gun


The Holland 602 type submarine, also known as the H class submarine was one of the most numerous submarines of the First World War. The type was designed by the Electric Boat Co. of the United States. Most of the boats were however built in Canada by the subsidiary of the British Vickers company. Operators included the United States Navy, the Chilean Navy, the Royal Navy, the Imperial Russian Navy, the Soviet Navy, the Italian Regia Marina, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Dutch Navy, the Royal Danish Navy and the Kriegsmarine.

The prototype for the class were the two submarines ordered in 1911 for the Chilean Navy. The 313/421 ton subs were built to the John Philip Holland design 19-E and design 19-B. The Chilean Navy however refused to accept delivery of the boats. They were then sold to the Royal Canadan Navy, becoming HMCS CC-1 and HMCS CC-2. The United States H class submarines H-1, H-2 and H-3 were then built to design 30, with an increased displacement of 358/434 tons.

In October 1914, after the start of World War I, the British Admiralty ordered ten submarines to design 602E, to be built by Canadian Vickers in Montreal, Quebec. These would become the British H class submarines. Another ten submarines were secretly construced at Fore River Yard at Quincy. Massachusetts in the then neutral United States. This group was impounded by the United States government and ended up in the Chilean Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy after the Armeican declaration of war. A third group of twenty-five British H class subs was constructed in 1917-1919 in Britain, many of them serving in World War II.

In the summer of 1915 eight type 602 submarines were ordered by the Italian Regia Marina. These were built in Montreal, Quebec.

The Imperial Russian Navy ordered a total of 17 submarines from Canada. These were built at a temporary shipyard in Barnet on Burrard Inlet outside Vancouver, British Columbia. They were then disassembled, taken by ship to Vladivostok, by the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Saint Petersburg and Nikolayev to be reassembled in Russian Shipyards. In Russia they were known as the "Amerikansky Golland" class submarines. Six of the boats were undelevered at the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917. These were later brought by the United States Navy, and after reassembly at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, they became the United States H class submarines H-4 - H-9.

The Finnish Navy salvaged two of the Russian subs scuttled of Hanko at the end of the Finnish Civil War, but was unable to refit them for service. Instead a Finnish naval armament program was started, that produced the German designed submarines, that served as prototypes for the WWII German U-boats.

Contents

[edit] Submarines

[edit] Royal Navy

[edit] United States Navy

[edit] Italian Regia Marina

  • Italian H1 - H8 (8 boats)

[edit] Imperial Russian Navy

[edit] Royal Canadan Navy

[edit] Chilean Navy

  • ex HMS H13 and HMS H16 to HMS H20 (6 boats)

[edit] Royal Danish Navy

  • HMS U-1 and HMS U-3 to HMS U-10 (8 boats)
    • Northsea fleet
      • HMS U-11 to U-16 (5 boats)

[edit] References

[edit] Literature

  • The Legend of Electric Boat, by Jeffrey L. Rodengen, 1994 ISBN 0-945903-24-3
  • Britain's Clandestine Submarines 1914-1915, by Gaddis Smith, 1964, ISBN 0-208-01504-3.
  • The Subterfuge Submarines, by E. C. Fischer jr., in Warship International , 1977 Vol. XIV No.3
  • Building Submarines for Russia in Burrard Inlet, by W.Kaye Lamb, in BC Studies No.71 Autumn, 1986