RN Subs

E18

E18

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E18 was ordered as part of the 1913/14 Naval Estimates and was built at the Barrow in Furness Yard of Vickers, Sons and Maxims. The submarine was launched on 4th March 1915 and, after commissioning on 6th June 1915, joined the Eighth Submarine Flotilla at Harwich and was later sent to join the Baltic Flotilla.

The Submarine was on patrol in the Baltic on 23rd May 1916 when the Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander Robert C Halahan torpedoed the German Destroyer V100 blowing off the bows of the German ship. This success was reported on the 24th May which was the last message received from the submarine. No reason for the loss of the submarine has been identified.

Two Ratings who had been members of the E18 crew were left inboard immediately prior to sailing on this last patrol and became inadvertent survivors of the loss. Both men survived the War and one became a significant figure in the early years of the Submarine Old Comrades Association (SOCA). The two were:

• PO John Percival Ryan O/N J690 was left inboard when the Submarine sailed on patrol owing to him being listed 'Sick' with measles. On his recovery he was drafted to Submarine E19. He returned home in January 1918 after the disbandment and scuttling of the Baltic Submarine Flotilla. In November 1933 John Ryan was elected as the Secretary of the London Branch of the Submarine Old Comrades Association at an Inaugural Meeting held in Carr's Restaurant in the Strand. He remained as the London Branch SOCA Secretary until the outbreak of WWII in 1939.
• Able Seaman Charles Henry Sexton O/N J23950 was a very lucky man who had, previously, survived the sinking of Submarine D5 in November 1914. According to a former member of the RNSM Archives Working Party Charles Sexton survived the loss of Submarine E18 by virtue of the fact that he had been sentenced to 90 days in cells for 'borrowing' beer from the Wardroom. After completion of his detention Charles Sexton was drafted to Submarine E8 - also in the Baltic Flotilla. He returned home safely in January 1918 after the destruction of the Baltic Submarine Flotilla.

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