HMS K5

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HMS K5

HMS K5 was one of the K-class
British K class submarine

The K class submarines were a class of steam-propelled submarines of the Royal Navy designed in 1913. Intended as large, fast vessels which had the endurance and speed to operate with the Naval fleet....
submarine
Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability....
s that served in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
between 1917 and 1921. She was lost with all hands when she sank en route to a mock battle in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay is a Headlands and bays of the North Atlantic Ocean. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest, France south to the Spain border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Punta de Estaca de Bares, and is named for the Spanish province of Biscay....
.

he end of the war in 1918 K5 was part of the 12th Submarine Flotilla based at Rosyth
Rosyth

Rosyth is a town with a population of approx 15,000 located on the Firth of Forth on Scotland's east coast, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline....
, along with 6 others of the K class.

K5 left Torbay
Torbay

Torbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth....
on 19 January 1921 with the , , and for a mock battle in the Bay of Biscay.

The submarine was commanded by an experienced officer, Lieutenant-Commander John A Gaimes
John Gaimes

Lieutenant-Commander John Austin Gaimes, Distinguished Service Order, was a submarine commander for the Royal Navy. He died in January 1921, at the age of 33, when the HMS K5 sank with the loss of all hands....
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other Commonwealth of Nations countries, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat....
, RN
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
, but had a new crew.

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Encyclopedia

HMS K5 was one of the K-class
British K class submarine

The K class submarines were a class of steam-propelled submarines of the Royal Navy designed in 1913. Intended as large, fast vessels which had the endurance and speed to operate with the Naval fleet....
submarine
Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability....
s that served in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
between 1917 and 1921. She was lost with all hands when she sank en route to a mock battle in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay is a Headlands and bays of the North Atlantic Ocean. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest, France south to the Spain border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Punta de Estaca de Bares, and is named for the Spanish province of Biscay....
.

War service
At the end of the war in 1918 K5 was part of the 12th Submarine Flotilla based at Rosyth
Rosyth

Rosyth is a town with a population of approx 15,000 located on the Firth of Forth on Scotland's east coast, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline....
, along with 6 others of the K class.

Loss
The K5 left Torbay
Torbay

Torbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth....
on 19 January 1921 with the , , and for a mock battle in the Bay of Biscay.

The submarine was commanded by an experienced officer, Lieutenant-Commander John A Gaimes
John Gaimes

Lieutenant-Commander John Austin Gaimes, Distinguished Service Order, was a submarine commander for the Royal Navy. He died in January 1921, at the age of 33, when the HMS K5 sank with the loss of all hands....
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other Commonwealth of Nations countries, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat....
, RN
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
, but had a new crew. The other officers on board were Lieutenant
Lieutenant

Lieutenant is a military, naval, paramilitary, fire service, emergency medical services or police commissioned officer military rank.Lieutenant may also appear as part of a title used in various other organisations with a codified command structure....
F Cuddeford, Engineer-Lieutenant E Bowler, Acting Engineer-Lieutenant G Baker, Lieutenant B Clark and Acting Lieutenant R Middlement. The full complement included 51 other ranks on board.

All 57 hands were lost on 20 January about 120 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly

The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornwall of Great Britain. Traditionally administered as part of the county of Cornwall, the islands are now a unitary authority and have their own council....
. She had signalled that she was diving but she did not surface at the end of the exercise. After a battery cover and a sailor's "ditty box" were recovered it was presumed that she had somehow gone past her maximum depth.

On return from her exercises in the Mediterranean in 1922 the and the rest of the fleet dropped wreaths and held a memorial service where the K5 had gone down.

Problems with the K-class
Retired Rear-Admiral S.S. Hall wrote in The Times
The Times

The Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register.The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of News International....
(24 January 1921, p. 10): "...it may be taken as certain that the loss of the vessel was due to some delay to checking the downward momentum gained by the vessel being overtrimmed in diving, either by admitting compressed air too slowly to too many tanks at one time, to tanks only partially full, or to a sea connexion being closed prematurely."

The waters where the battle exercises were taking place were so deep that the vessel would have been crushed, losing control due to the intake of water. Admiral Hall wrote that it was "not clear why the 'K' class should be taken for cruises in the Atlantic in winter." He describes the submarines as 'freaks' that were designed especially for the conditions of the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
during World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
. "The high surface speed necessitates great length, and the further complication of steam demands very large openings for funnels and air intakes to boiler rooms. These have always been a source of great anxiety in bad weather or in rapid diving."

suffered a similar fate during her acceptance trials, when she foundered with the loss of 32 of those on board. The cause of the incident was related to the openings Hall refers to.