A Brief History
On January 20, 1921, the crew of the Royal Navy submarine K5 found out the hard way just how dangerous being a submariner is, even in peacetime, when they suffered a fatal “Naval Oops Moment” and the sub was lost with all hands.
Digging Deeper
K5 had been part of naval maneuvers in the Bay of Biscay when she dived and never resurfaced. Debris from the sub told the sad tale that the boat had been lost with all hands. Why the sub sank is not entirely known, with speculation that perhaps she exceeded her designed maximum depth due to human error or a physical problem. The consensus leaned toward human error as the entire crew except the Captain was new. Among those killed were six officers and 51 enlisted sailors.
Submarines have experienced disasters ever since they became a real warship, starting with the Confederate ship, Hunley, which sank for the final time in 1864 after becoming the first ever sub to sink a surface warship. In fact, the unlucky Hunley sank three separate times!
The sea is an unforgiving mistress, even more unforgiving as the depth increases, and those that dive beneath her depths are truly daring heroes, even in peacetime. Even civilian subs and submersibles are not immune to the danger, clearly demonstrated by the fatal sinking of the Titan in 2023 as the chartered submersible dove to visit the wreck of RMS Titanic.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Have you ever been on a submarine? Would you be willing to take a dive in a sub?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Gray, Edwyn. Disasters of the Deep: A Comprehensive Survey of Submarine Accidents & Disasters. Pen & Sword Military, 2006.
Miller, David. Submarine Disasters. Lyons Press, 2006.
The featured image in this article, an aerial view of K5 showing smoke from steam engine, available from the Collection Database of the Australian War Memorial under the ID Number: H11994, is in the public domain, because it is one of the following:
- It is a photograph taken prior to 1 June 1957; or
- It was published prior to 1975; or
- It is an artistic work other than a photograph or engraving (e.g. a painting) which was created prior to 1975.
HMSO has declared that the expiry of Crown Copyrights applies worldwide (ref: HMSO Email Reply)
More information. See also Copyright and Crown copyright artistic works.
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