RN Subs

K 13 (K 22)

K 13 (K 22)

K 13 (K 22)

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During her final dive on acceptance trials on 29th January 1917, whilst carrying 80 personnel (crew, civilians from the builders and the captain designate of K14), she ran into problems.

Just after noon HMS K13, on trials in the Gareloch, signalled to nearby HMS E50 her intention to dive. At a depth of some 20 feet the boiler room reported that the compartment was flooding. Main ballast tanks were blown and the forward keel was dropped, she continued out of control to the seabed. Although the depth was only some 50 feet more, aft of the torpedo room was completely flooded and 31 men were drowned.

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. After almost two and a half days later that the remainder of the crew were able to escape.

She was raised on 15th March 1917 and returned to Fairfields. After the necessary repair work was completed she was eventually commissioned as K22.

K14 was the last submarine that Fairfield built and as a result no other submarine carried the number 13.

Later at an Admiralty Inquiry, divers reported finding four 37inch ventilators over the boiler room open, Indicators in the boiler room were set open and the engine-room hatch was undone.

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BUY K13 Remembered

Keith Hall The British submarine, K13, was due to leave the Fairfield yard in Govan on the River Clyde, for her final acceptance trials at 0800 Monday 29th January 1917. On board were 80 men, both naval personnel and civilian contractors. A problem with one of the mooring wires caused a delay and she had only travelled a mile down the river when the submarine to ground at Whiteinch, Despite this she reached the Gareloch by 11:30 and carried out various tests that were required as part of the acceptance program. After the diving trial her engineer, Lieutenant Arthur Lane, reported that there was a small leak in the boiler room, he suggested a further short dive to determine the source of the leak As the submarine dived the aft compartments of the submarine flooded and it sank. 32 crew members and contractors lost their lives, 48 were saved. It is the worst ever British submarine accident, conversely, despite the lost of life, it remains the most successful submarine rescue ever The Board of Inquiry laid the blame for the accident solely on Lt Arthur Lane, the vessel's engineer. The book will provide an in-depth analysis of the sinking of the K 13 in the Gare Loch. It will offer a different perspective on the accident, a view that calls into question the legitimacy and accuracy of the Board of Inquiry’s findings and verdict. The investigations and conclusions that lead to this interpretation are based on detailed examination of archived records, personal accounts and in-depth analysis of the evidence.

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