RN Subs

K13

Built By:	Fairfield (Clyde)
Build Group:	K

Fate:

K13 which sank on 29th January 1917 when carrying out Acceptance Trials in the Gareloch off shore of the Shandon Hydropathic Hotel. Shortly after lunch the Submarine dived to carry out some final checks when the after end of the Submarine was flooded through the Engine Room Ventilators which had failed to shut properly. All personnel in the after part of the submarine were drowned. The survivors from the front end of Submarine K13 were rescued on 31st January. The Submarine was raised on 15th March 1917 and was refitted and returned to service as K22. Scrapped in December 1926.

Roll of Honour

 

Officers

Casualties

• Commander Francis Herbert Heaveningham Goodhart
• Lieutenant (E) Arthur Ernest Lane
• Bosun Herbert Pratt

Survivors

• Commander Godfrey Herbert
• Lieutenant Paris Graham Singer
• Lieutenant (E) Leonard Chichester Rideal

Ratings

Casualties

• PO Frederick Raymond Porter, DSM 171745
• AB Robert William Williams J3706
• CERA Frederick William George Smith 270355
• ERA 3rd Class Tom Bradley 272472
• ERA 2nd Class John Arthur Roberts 1629/EA
• Chief Stoker Walter Abraham Fensom 297570 (Ch)
• SPO George William Fieldwick 301111
• SPO George Jenkins Williamson 229331
• L/Sto Thomas Mitchell 302275
• AL/Sto Stephen Clutson Clark K5824
• L/Sto Frederick James Howard K9207
• Sto George William Bevis K8719
• Sto Herbert Cornish K9219
• Sto John Dickinson K11895 (Po)
• Sto Ridgeway Dymond K14330
• Sto Henry Charles Goddard K20432
• Sto Timothy Hallihan K12408
• Sto Richard Hooper O/N K9871
• Sto William Lovell Roberts K1715 (Dev)
• Sto Alfred Scarlett O/N K/12902
• Sto Horace Simpson O/N K4303 (Dev)
• Sto Leonard White O/N K15229

Survivors

• CPO Reginald Atkinson O/N 233659
• PO Robert Oscar Moth 220366
• PO Robert William Nicholls 195631
• PO Stanley Albert White 220128
• L/Sea Charles Frederick Osborne 225038
• L/Sea Robert Henry Hudd 231390
• L/Sea Arthur Travers 238252
• AB James Patrick O’Regan 238673
• AB Frank Harry Byrnes J5561
• AB Albert Knight J373
• AB Arthur Henry Kirk 235218
• AB Henry John George Akers 195047
• AB Ernest Edward Stevens J5146
• AB Henry William Frederick Mackrell J26655
• AB Richard John Pring Wattley J16437
• AB Robert Young J10983
• AB Thomas Arnold Guthrie J8959
• AB George Edmondson O/N 228678
• L/Sig Arthur Reginald Riley J21077
• L/Tel Charles Albert Harry Freestone J15536
• Boy Tel Joseph Swift J44055
• ERA Owen Charles Lewis M3716
• CERA Albert Denne M4470
• SPO Charles Smith 302886 (Po)
• Sto Ernest Alfred Smith K19554
• Sto George Baker O/N K7178

Civilians

Casualties

The Civilian dead from the accident are commemorated on a memorial drinking fountain erected by the Fairfield Company in Elder Park – opposite the site of the Fairfield Building Yard on the Clyde. The Civilian Staff who died in the accident are as listed below:

• Frederick Stephen Hole, Admiralty Overseers Assistant
• John P Steel, Fairfield Engine Department
• William Chalmers Smith, Fairfield Engine Department
• William John Lewis, Fairfield Engine Department
• William Alfred Strachan, Fairfield Engine Department
• James Kirk, Fairfield Engine Department
• Frank Thomas Neate, Fairfield Foreman Electrician

Survivors

• Frederick W Searle, Admiralty Ship Overseer
• Edward Hepworth, Admiralty Overseer (Boilers)
• William Hancock, Admiralty Overseer
• Robert Lake, Brotherhoods Ltd
• Frederick C Cocks, RCNC
• Prof. Percy Hillhouse, Fairfield Chief Engineer
• Edward Skinner, Fairfield Electrical Department
• William MacLean, Fairfield
• Donald Hood, Fairfield
• Frank Bullen, Fairfield
• John Green, Fairfield Mechanical Foreman
• Henry Kerr, Fairfield
• William Struthers, Fairfield
• Edward Powney, Chadburns of Liverpool
• Donald Renfrew Kelvin, Bottomley & Baird
• Sidney Black Kelvin, Bottomley & Baird
• William Williams, Brown Brothers (Boilers)
• Captain Joseph Duncan, Clyde Pilot

Related Pages

Unlucky Thirteen

Read

K13 was carrying out her final acceptance trials prior to the Admiralty officially taking her over from her Clydeside builders. She had already covered the measured mile at a record 23" knots to gain the honour of the world's fastest submarine and there was a festive air about the pre-diving lunch which continued to 3:15 pm. And as she glided slowly down to the diving area in Gareloch she was carrying not only her regular crew of 53 officers and men but also 14 directors and employees of Fairfield, 13 other civilians, and two Royal Navy submarine officers acting as observers. When she arrived at the loch she picked up two more civilian experts. She dived smoothly enough but to Lt-Cdr Herbert's consternation she refused to trim level at 20 feet and continued plunging toward the bottom.

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Events

01-10-1915 :	Laid Down
11-11-1916 :	Launched
29-01-1917 :	Just after noon HMS K13, on trials in the Gareloch, signaled to nearby HMS E50 her intention to dive. As the submarine submerged the engine room began to flood. The submarine became uncontrollable and came to rest on the bottom with the engine room and after torpedo room flooded. The crew of E50 witnessing K13's rapid dive closed in on the area discovering traces of oil and escaping air breaking the surface. The first rescue vessel arrived around midnight. Divers were sent down to inspect the submarine and just after daybreak on the 30th morse signals were exchanged between the divers and the trapped crew. At 1700 an airline was successfully connected, empty air bottles recharged and ballast tanks blown. With the aid of a hawser slung under her bows K13 was brought to within 8 feet of the surface. By midday of the 31st K13's bow had been raised ten feet above the water. By 2100 the pressure hull had been breached using oxyacetylene cutting equipment the survivors being transferred to safety. K13 was finally raised on 15th March, refitted and returned to service as HMS K22.
18-10-1917 :	Completed

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