Chilean submarine Fresia

Career
Name: H6 (1917–1924)
Fresia (1924–1945)
Builder: Fore River Yard, Quincy, Massachusetts
Launched: 26 July 1915
Acquired: 1917
Struck: 1945
General characteristics
Class and type:H class submarine
Displacement:363 long tons (369 t) surfaced
434 long tons (441 t) submerged
Length:150 ft 3 in (45.80 m)
Beam:15 ft 4 in (4.67 m)
Propulsion:1 × 480 hp (358 kW) diesel engine
2 × 620 hp (462 kW) electric motors
Speed:13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) surfaced
10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) submerged
Range:1,600 nmi (3,000 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
130 nmi (240 km) at 2 kn (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) submerged
Complement:22
Armament:4 × 18 in (457 mm) bow torpedo tubes
8 × 18 inch torpedoes

Fresia was an H class submarine of the Chilean Navy. The vessel was originally ordered by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy as HMS H20, but was handed over to Chile in 1917 as H6.

Career

H20 was a British H class submarine built by Fore River Yard of Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 25 August 1915. Because the United States was neutral (having not yet entered World War I), H20 along with sister ships H11, H12, H13, H14, H15, H16, H17, H18, and H19 were all interned by the United States government. As a result, H20 was never commissioned into the Royal Navy. Instead, she and H13, H16, H17, H18, and H19 were transferred to the Chilean Navy as partial recompensation for the appropriation of two 28,000-ton dreadnoughts (Almirante Latorre and Almirante Cochrane). Originally named H6 when turned over to Chile in 1917, she was renamed Fresia in 1924. She served with the Chilean Navy until she was stricken in 1945.

References