HMS E20 in Harbor |
|
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS E20 |
| Builder: | Vickers, Barrow |
| Laid down: | 25 November 1914 |
| Commissioned: | 30 August 1915 |
| Fate: | Sunk by torpedo, 6 November 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | E class submarine |
| Displacement: | 667 long tons (678 t) surfaced 807 long tons (820 t) submerged |
| Length: | 181 ft (55 m) |
| Beam: | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × 1,600 hp (1,193 kW) diesels 2 × 840 hp (626 kW) electric 2 screws |
| Speed: | 15.25 knots (28.24 km/h; 17.55 mph) surfaced 10.25 knots (18.98 km/h; 11.80 mph) submerged |
| Range: | 3,000 nmi (5,600 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 65 nmi (120 km) at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged |
| Complement: | 30 |
| Armament: | • 5 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes (2 bow, 2 beam, 1 stern) • 1 × 12-pounder gun |
HMS E20 was a British E class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 25 November 1914 and was commissioned on 30 August 1915.
While the German Submarine UB-14 had been in port on 30 November, Turkish forces had captured the French submarine Turquoise before the submarine or any of the confidential papers on board could be destroyed.[1] When Turquoise was caught, her commander had not signaled her predicament to anyone, so a scheduled rendezvous with the British submarine E20—as far as anyone other than Turquoise or the Germans and Turks knew—was still on. UB-14 had been sent to keep the rendezvous,[2] reportedly going so far as to radio messages in the latest British code.[3] Upon arriving at the designated location, UB-14 surfaced and fired a torpedo at E20 from a distance of 500 metres (550 yd). Only when E20's crew saw the torpedo did they realize something was amiss, but it was too late to avoid the weapon.[4] The torpedo hit E20's conning tower and sank the submarine with the loss of 21 men.[4][5] UB-14 rescued nine men, including E20's captain who,[4] reportedly, had been brushing his teeth at the time of the attack.[6]
|
|||||||||||