HMS E14
 Crew of E14, seen after leaving the Dardanelles straits in 1915. Lt-Cmdr. Boyle is standing at centre on the conning tower. | |
| History | |
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| Name: | HMS E14 |
| Builder: | Vickers, Barrow |
| Cost: | £105,700 |
| Laid down: | 14 December 1912 |
| Commissioned: | 18 November 1914 |
| Fate: | Sunk, 28 January 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | E class submarine |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 181 ft (55 m) |
| Beam: | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Range: |
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| Complement: | 30 |
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HMS E14 was a British E class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. During the First World War, two of her captains were awarded the Victoria Cross, and a large number of her officers and men also decorated.
HMS E14 was laid down on 14 December 1912 and was commissioned on 18 November 1914. Her hull cost £105,700.
Service history
E14 took part in an operation to penetrate the Sea of Marmara. She successfully dived beneath the minefields and broke into the Sea of Marmara on 27 April 1915. She quickly sank the Turkish gunboat Nurel Bahr, sinking 200 tons on 1 May. She then went on to damage the minelayer Peik I Shevket sinking 1014 tons in a torpedo attack. On 3 May she torpedoed transportship Gul Djemal with 4,000 soldiers on board.
Upon her return, her captain, Lieutenant Commander Edward Courtney Boyle received the Victoria Cross; Lieutenant Edward Geldard Stanley and Acting Lieutenant Reginald Wilfred Lawrence were both awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and all the ratings were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.[1]
Later in her career, her new captain, Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Saxton White was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in the Dardanelles. With the ex-Goeben crippled after the Battle of Imbros, E14 was dispatched to finish off the Turkish battlecruiser when repeated air attacks failed to destroy her.
Finding the Goeben gone, E14 attacked a merchant ship as she withdrew from the Dardanelles. Firing two torpedoes, one prematurely exploded damaging the submarine. She was forced to surface because of flooding but then came under coastal battery fire off Kum Kale.
Then, while attempting to beach safely, White was killed by shellfire. E14 sank, but nine of her crew survived and were taken prisoner.[2]
Wreck
In June 2012, after a three-year search, Turkish marine engineer Selçuk Kolay and filmmaker Savas Karakas discovered the wreck of E14 in 20 m of water about 250 m off Kum Kale.
The boat is largely buried in sand, only 7 m of the coral-encrusted bow, with a shell hole, remaining visible. The British government is to ask the Turkish authorities to ensure the wreck is respected as a war grave.
References
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 29169. p. 4894. 21 May 1915. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 31354. p. 6445. 23 May 1919. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
- Hutchinson, Robert, Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day ISBN 978-0-06-081900-2
External links
- 'Submarine losses 1904 to present day' - Royal Navy Submarine Museum
- First World War British submarine found 94 years after being abandoned
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