The HMS E-3 was one of the first E-class submarine to be constructed. With unprecedented compartmentalization and endurance, the E-class submarine was the best in the Royal Navy at the start of World War I.

On 18 October 1914, whilst on patrol off Borkum in the North Sea, E-3 spotted some German destroyers ahead, but could not get into a good attacking position. Unable to pass the vessels, commander Cholmney retreated to the bay of Borkum to wait for them to disperse, not knowing that the bay was also occupied by the German submarine U-27.

U-27 closed in on E-3 and fired two torpedoes, hitting the English submarine. Fearing the presence of other English submarines in the area, U-27 quickly dived and withdrew. When it returned 30 minutes later to collect evidence of the incident and possible survivors, it became clear that E-3 and all of its 28 crew members were lost. It was the first ever successful attack by a submarine on another.

The interior of an E-class submarine, source: Wikipedia Commons.

Name: HMS E-3

Navy: Royal Navy

Class: E-class submarine

Laid down: April 1911

Launched: October 1912

Shipyard: Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness

Length: 54 m

Beam: 4.6 m

Displacement: 676 tons surfaced, 809 tons submerged

Armament: four 460 mm torpedo tubes

HMS E-3 at port, sometime between 1912 and 1914.

Drawing of the HMS E-3 wreck site by sports divers, source: noordzeewrakken.nl.