HMAS AE2

HMAS "AE2" (originally known as AE2) was an E-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was commissioned into the RAN at Portsmouth on 28 February 1914 and was scuttled less than a year later in the Sea of Marmara after being hit by an enemy torpedo during the Battle of Gallipoli of World War I.

History

Commissioned

"AE2" was built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, England and was commissioned at Portsmouth, England, on 28 February 1914 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Henry H.G.D. Stoker, RN.Cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_AE2 |title=HMAS AE2 |publisher=Sea Power Centre - Australia |accessdate=2007-09-15]

Accompanied by her sister ship HMAS AE1, the other of the Royal Australian Navy's first two submarines, "AE1" reached Sydney from England on 24 May 1914, manned by Royal Navy officers with a mixed crew of sailors drawn from the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy.

Deployment

On the outbreak of World War I in September 1914, "AE2" proceeded with "AE1" to capture German New Guinea as part of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force. With the simple surrender of the Germans complete, although with the loss of "AE1", in October, "AE2" sailed first to Suva, Fiji, then to Sydney and then onto Albany, Western Australia.

On 31 December 1914 she was towed from Albany by SS "Berrima" as part of a Troop Convoy 2 across the Indian Ocean, arriving at Port Said, Egypt, on 28 January 1915. AE2 was ordered to join the British 2nd Submarine Flotilla on the island of Tenedos and proceeded to take part in patrols.Cite book |last=David |first=Stevens |year=2001 |title=The Royal Australian Navy - A History |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195555422]

Dardanelles Campaign

As part of the naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, "AE2" made its first attempt to navigate the Dardanelles straits on 24 April, she penetrated convert|6|nmi|km|0 before being forced back with mechanical problems. At 0230 hours on 25 April 1915 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Henry Dacre Stoker, RAN "AE2" again attempted to force her way through the straits. At approximately 0430 hours Stoker dived the boat in response to fire from the Turkish guns. By 0600 hours AE2 reached Chanak the narrowest part of the strait and then proceeded to torpedo the Turkish gunboat "Peyk I Sevket" while simultaneously taking evasive actions to avoid an enemy destroyer. During the evasion Stoker ran the boat aground directly under a Turkish fort, fortunately the fort was unable to lower its guns onto the "AE2". After four minutes of being exposed on the bank AE2 slid back into deeper waters.

Shortly after grounding a second time, the periscope of "AE2" was sighted by a Turkish battleship firing over the peninsular at British positions. On sighting the periscope the battleship ceased fire and retreated to a safe position. "AE2" continued to make a steady advance toward the Sea of Marmara. At 0830 Stoker decided to rest the boat on the ocean bottom, waiting for the safety of dark. On surfacing he sighted no enemies and proceeded into the Sea of Marmara becoming the first Allied submarine to pass through the Dardanelles Strait.

Stoker signalled his success to his commanders. The commanders of the landings were discussing the possibility of re-embarking the force, the news of "AE2"’s success changed the mood of the conversation and talk of a withdrawal was ended. News of the success of "AE2" was spread among ANZAC troops to encourage them. "AE2" was ordered to "generally run amok"; Stoker intended to give the impression that there where multiple submarines in the area. Due to mechanical problems, "AE2", though making repeated attacks, managed no further hits on Turkish vessels. On 30 April, "AE2" began to rise uncontrollably and surfaced around convert|1|nmi|km|0|sing=on from the torpedo boat "Sultanhisar". Stoker ordered the boat to dive, she went down too deep, passing safety levels, then after frantic attempts to resurface the boat she broke surface stern first. Within moments of surfacing she was hit by shellfire, Stoker ordered his crew to abandon ship. All members of the crew survived the attack, though three died during the three and a half years in captivity. "AE2"’s achievements showed others that the task was possible, within months the Turkish communications line had been badly disrupted.

earch and discovery

Since 1995, Selçuk Kolay, director of the Rahmi Koç Museum in Istanbul, had searched for the remains of "AE2".Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/heritagensw/dec98/10_art.htm |title=The discovery of the WW1 Australian submarine |publisher=Heritage Council of NSW] In 1996, he discovered what he believed to be the wreck lying in 86 metres of water. With the assistance of an Australian diving team, which visited Turkey to dive on the wreck in October 1997, it was determined that the wreck was that of an old steamer.

After a further thorough side-scan sonar and magnetometric survey of the reported scuttling site of the "AE2", Kolay located "AE2" in June 1998, lying in 72 metres of water, and was first dived upon the following month. An Australian dive team again visited Turkey in October 1998, with further dives confirming the identification of "AE2". The team leader for both the 1997 and 1998 expeditions was Dr Mark Spencer. Pictures from those expeditions, plus underwater pictures, can be seen at his web site. [Spencer, Mark. [http://www.markspencer.com.au/ae2.php "AE2 Expeditions, 1997 and 1998"] ]

On 9 September 2007, Australian and Turkish naval authorities began an undersea investigation to determine whether the "AE2" can be raised and restored.Cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/gallipolis-valiant-sub-poised-to-surface-from-the-depths-ofhistory/2007/09/09/1189276544462.html |title=Gallipoli's valiant sub poised to surface from the depths of history |publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald |first=Fred |last=Brenchley |date=2007-09-10] The survey team has identified that there's been significant damage to the casing of the submarine. The expedition's director of operations, Terry Roach, has told how "Fishing nets have obviously dragged at the casing and dislodged some of it, and it is markedly different from what it was before." [Cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/11/2029256.htm |title=Looking beneath the surface of the Gallipoli campaign |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |first=Scott |last=Bevan |work=News Online |date=2007-09-11]

References

External links

* [http://www.markspencer.com.au/ae2.php AE2 1997 and 1998 Expeditions, History and Pictures] History of AE2 and expedition notes on the discovery and verification of the wreck.
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jeffery.knaggs/diary.html The Diary of Albert Edward Knaggs RAN of AE2]

*cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/10/nstoker110.xml|title=Henry Stoker: sailor, sportsman, actor, hero|first=Jasper|last=Copping|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|date=26 February 2008|accessdate=2008-03-26
* [http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/5environment/submarines/ae2.html British and Australian Submarines in the Dardanelles, 1915] Includes a full animation of the AE2's passage of the Dardanelles on 24-29 April 1915. The presentation is based on Lieutenant-Commander Henry Stoker's report of the voyage submitted after the end of the war and published in Arthur Jose, The Royal Australian Navy 1914-1918, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Sydney, 1941, pp.242-248.