- Holland 602 type submarine
The Holland 602 type submarine, also known as the H class submarine was one of the most numerous submarines of the First World War. The type was designed by the
Electric Boat Co. of theUnited States . Most of the boats were however built inCanada by the subsidiary of the BritishVickers company. Operators included theUnited States Navy , theChilean Navy , theRoyal Navy , theImperial Russian Navy , theSoviet Navy , the ItalianRegia Marina , theRoyal Canadian Navy , theRoyal Dutch Navy , theRoyal Danish Navy and theKriegsmarine .The prototype for the class were the two submarines ordered in 1911 for the Chilean Navy. The 313/421 ton subs were built to the
John Philip Holland "design 19-E" and "design 19-B". The Chilean Navy however refused to accept delivery of the boats. They were then sold to the Royal Canadan Navy, becoming HMCS "CC-1" and HMCS "CC-2". TheUnited States H class submarine s "H-1", "H-2" and "H-3" were then built to "design 30", with an increased displacement of 358/434 tons.In October 1914, after the start of World War I, the British
Admiralty ordered ten submarines to "design 602E", to be built byCanadian Vickers inMontreal ,Quebec . These would become theBritish H class submarine s. Another ten submarines were secretly construced atFore River Yard atQuincy .Massachusetts in the then neutral United States. This group was impounded by the United States government and ended up in the Chilean Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy after the Armeican declaration of war. A third group of twenty-five British H class subs was constructed in 1917-1919 in Britain, many of them serving inWorld War II .In the summer of 1915 eight "type 602" submarines were ordered by the Italian
Regia Marina . These were built in Montreal, Quebec.The
Imperial Russian Navy ordered a total of 17 submarines from Canada. These were built at a temporary shipyard inBarnet onBurrard Inlet outsideVancouver ,British Columbia . They were then disassembled, taken by ship toVladivostok , by theTrans-Siberian Railroad toSaint Petersburg and Nikolayev to be reassembled in Russian Shipyards. In Russia they were known as the "Amerikansky Golland" class submarines. Six of the boats were undelevered at the time of theRussian Revolution of 1917 . These were later brought by the United States Navy, and after reassembly at thePuget Sound Navy Yard , they became theUnited States H class submarine s "H-4" - "H-9".The
Finnish Navy salvaged two of the Russian subs scuttled ofHanko at the end of theFinnish Civil War , but was unable to refit them for service. Instead aFinnish naval armament program was started, that produced the German designed submarines, that served as prototypes for the WWII GermanU-boat s.Submarines
Royal Navy
*
British H class submarine s
** Group 1 (1915)
***HMS H1 -HMS H10 (10 boats)
** Group 2 (1915 - 1918, The whole group was impounded by the US government.)
***HMS H11 andHMS H12 (2 boats)
***HMS H13 -HMS H20 (8 boats) were transferred to Chile and Canada
** Group 3 (1917-1919)
***HMS H21 -HMS H52 (25 boats; H53, H54 cancelled)United States Navy
*
United States H class submarine s
** USS "H-1" - "H-3" (3 boats, prototypes)
** USS "H-4" - "H-9" (5 boats, originally built for theImperial Russian Navy )Italian Regia Marina
* Italian "H1" - "H8" (8 boats)
Imperial Russian Navy
*
American Holland class submarine
**Baltic Fleet
*** AG-11 - AG-16 (5 boats)
**Black Sea Fleet
***AG-21 - AG-27 (6 boats)Royal Canadan Navy
* "CH-14" and "CH-15" (2 boats)
Chilean Navy
* ex HMS "H13" and HMS "H16" to HMS "H20" (6 boats)
Royal Danish Navy
* HMS "U-1" and HMS "U-3" to HMS "U-10" (8 boats)
** Northsea fleet
***HMS "U-11" to "U-16" (5 boats)References
* [http://www.gwpda.org/naval/cdnsubs.htm World War One Submarines Built in Canada]
** [http://www.gwpda.org/naval/cdnhboat.htm The Canadian-built British H-boats]
** [http://www.gwpda.org/naval/hpatsubs.htm Technical Details]
** [http://www.gwpda.org/naval/hclaspht.htm Photo gallery]
* [http://www.submarinehistory.com/SubmarineBaseHistory.html City of Los Angeles . . . An Inland City with the First Submarine Base on the Pacific Coast]
* [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=45 uboat.net]Literature
* "The Legend of Electric Boat", by Jeffrey L. Rodengen, 1994 ISBN 0-945903-24-3
* "Britain's Clandestine Submarines 1914-1915", by Gaddis Smith, 1964, ISBN 0-208-01504-3.
* "The Subterfuge Submarines", by E. C. Fischer jr., in "Warship International , 1977 Vol. XIV No.3
* "Building Submarines for Russia in Burrard Inlet", by W.Kaye Lamb, in "BC Studies" No.71 Autumn, 1986
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.