HMS A2

HMS A2 was an submarine built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

Design and description

A2 was a member of the first British class of submarines, although slightly larger, faster and more heavily armed than the lead ship,. The submarine had a length of overall, a beam of and a mean draft of. They displaced on the surface and submerged. The A-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 9 ratings.
For surface running, the boats were powered by a single 16-cylinder Wolseley petrol engine that drove one propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, A2 had a range of at ; submerged the boat had a range of at.
The boats were armed with two 18-inch torpedo tubes in the bow. They could carry a pair of reload torpedoes, but generally did not as in doing so they had to compensate for their weight by an equivalent weight of fuel.

Construction and career

Like all boats in her class, she was built at Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. Construction started in 1902 and the submarine was launched on 15 April 1903 and completed on 26 March 1904. During World War I, A2 served on harbour service at Portsmouth. She flooded after running aground in Bomb Ketch Lake in Portsmouth Harbour in January 1920 and was sold for scrap to H. G. Pound of Portsmouth on 22 October 1925.