The ‘K’ Class steam powered submarine K-13 was launched from the Govan yard of Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co Ltd, Glasgow on 11th November 1916. She measured 339.0′ x 26.5′ x 20.9′ and her tonnage was 1980 displacement tons (surface) and 2566 displacement tons (submerged) She was powered by twin 10,500 horse power, oil-fired Yarrow boilers each driving Brown-Curtis or Parsons geared steam turbines to twin 3-bladed 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) propellers. For submerged propulsion she had four 1,440 horse power electric motors and also an 800 horse power Vickers diesel generator for charging batteries on the surface. She was armed with 4 × 18 in beam torpedo tubes, 4 × 18 inch bow tubes, plus 8 spare torpedoes, 2 × 18 inch deck tubes (later removed) and 2 × 4 inch guns, 1 × 3 inch gun.
GA drawing of typical K-Class submarine.
It is unlikely that any class of ship in any navy worldwide was so ill conceived and destined for such controversy and disaster as the steam powered ‘K’ class submarines of the British Navy. 16 of the ships were involved in major accidents and six were ultimately lost. Only one ship ever engaged the enemy and only one torpedo was fired in anger – it failed to explode! The ships would also be involved in one of the most bizarre incidents in the history of the Royal Navy – an incident that became known as the Battle of May Island.
In 1915, after years of under investment in submarines, much of it due to an attitude that submarine warfare was in some way more distasteful than other kinds of war and, awakened by the early successes of the German U-boat fleets, the Admiralty ordered the construction of a new, secret class of submarines – the ‘K’ class. They would be the largest, fastest and heaviest submarines in the world. Indeed they would achieve speeds that were not even matched by later 2nd World War vessels but the penalty for this speed was that they had to be steam, rather than diesel powered. In turn this led to the need for retractable funnels – a recipe for disaster.
K-13 en route to Gareloch for dive trials.
One of the early incidents occurred in the Gare loch on January 29th, 1917. K-13, which had been built at Fairfield’s yard on the upper Clyde, steamed down the river in the cold early morning that day under the command of Lieutenant Commander Godfrey Herbert. She had eighty men, including fifty three crew, fourteen directors and employees of the shipbuilders and thirteen other civilians aboard. Within a few minutes of setting out on her first trial voyage she ran aground at Whiteinch and had to suffer the indignity of waiting for the tide to rise before she drifted off, stern first, down the river. She had to steam downstream in reverse until she reached the River Cart where she was able to turn.
However, despite the mishap, spirits aboard were still high as she successfully completed surface trials off the Tail of the Bank and managed to reach a speed of 23 knots over the measured mile making her the fastest submarine in the world at the time. She steamed into Gareloch to attempt the first of her planned underwater runs. It also went well although, ominously, Engineer Lieutenant Arthur Lane warned of a flickering indicator – the indicator showed whether the boiler room ventilators were shut. Lane concluded that the flickering light was due to faulty wiring and Commander Herbert agreed. The ship moored alongside SS Comet while lunch was served and it was decided to try another run later that afternoon. At 3:15pm the men reboarded K-13 and set off down the loch for a second run. Commander Herbert ordered diving stations and the ship started to slip smoothly beneath the surface. Almost immediately an urgent message was relayed to the bridge from the boiler room. Water was streaming in through one of the ventilator hatches. Herbert ordered an emergency ascent but his ship continued to go down, out of control. She hit the bottom at fifty feet and came to rest upright on the muddy seabed. The boiler and engine room compartments were flooded and the thirty one members of the crew and passengers in that area of the ship, including Arthur Lane, were drowned as Herbert ordered the watertight door to the stern section closed. It was a difficult order to give but was the only chance of saving the ship and the other men aboard.
After the initial fright there was no panic aboard as the survivors began to take stock of their position. Their concern increased as Herbert dropped the forward detachable keel and blew his forward ballast tanks without any affect. However, they were still in no immediate danger and, although air supply was clearly the biggest concern, they were sure that help would soon arrive from the surface.
Amazingly, confusion and uncertainty on the surface meant that the first rescue vessel, SS Gossamer, did not leave the dock until 10pm that evening and it was daybreak before the first diver went down to the submarine. Early the next morning Herbert and Captain Goodhart of K-14, who was aboard to observe the trials, made a desperate attempt to establish contact by flooding the conning tower, opening the hatch and swimming to the surface. Herbert made it but Captain Goodhart was drowned in the attempt. His body was later recovered trapped in the submarine’s superstructure.
By now things aboard K-13 were getting desperate as the air supply was running low. It took all day for a line to be connected from the surface but, thirty five hours after she left the surface, the sweet taste of fresh air flowed through the darkness of the ship. This air was also used to charge high pressure tanks which, in turn, were used to blow the forward ballast tanks. Slowly K-13 began to lift her bow out of the deep silt and reach for the surface. Even then the adventure was not yet over. The ship came to a halt with her bow eight feet from the surface and the stern still firmly stuck in the seabed. It took many more hours for wire to be attached to her hull before a crane finally lifted her that few extra feet. This allowed a hole to be cut in her hull and the bedraggled, exhausted men to crawl out to safety. They had been underwater for fifty seven hours – only forty seven of the eighty men aboard survived.
At 6 p.m. the following day K-13 tore the bollards out of the barges and sank again, her bow section flooding through the escape hole. The submarine was finally salvaged on 15th March, repaired and recommissioned as HMS K-22 and was to play a leading role in the amazing story of the Battle of May Island.
K-13 salvage, Gareloch. Imperial War Museum
K-13 raised, repaired and re-fitted later with swan bow, commissioned as K-22 and scrapped 1926.
The Admiralty Court of Enquiry found that four of the 37 inch diameter ventilators had been left open during the dive, and that the indicator light in the control room had actually showed them as open. The engine room hatch was also found to be open. The Admiralty Court of Inquiry blamed Lieutenant Lane who, having drowned in the accident, was unable to defend his position. Investigators concluded he had opened a hatch to escape before the compartment flooded and he was court martialled posthumously.
Memorial to those lost. Elder Park, Govan opposite site of former Fairfield Shipbuilders.
Memorial and graves of some of the crew of K-13, Faslane Cemetery, Garelochhead – Photo Imperial War Museum (Non comm use).
Further reading: There are a number of books and websites dedicated to the short history of the K-Class submarine and in particular the K-13 disaster, one source is of particular detail and titled – K Boats by Don Everitt (ISBN 1-84037-057-2). In this article, reference is also made to the Battle of May Island and further information on this naval mishap can be found here – The K-Boats.
