HMS H5

HMS H5 was a British H-class submarine of the Royal Navy that served in the First World War. The boat, which was launched on 1 April 1915, was lost after being rammed by a British merchant ship off Caernarfon Bay in March 1918. It had been mistaken as a German U-boat and sank with the loss of all hands.

Design

She had a displacement of at the surface and while submerged. Her total length was, with a beam of and a draught of.
Her two diesel engines provided a total power of and her two electric motors provided power which gave the submarine a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of. She would normally carry of fuel and had a maximum capacity of and a range of. The boat was armed with a Hotchkiss quick-firing gun and four bow torpedo tubes with six torpedoes carried. The complement was twenty-two crew members.

On 14 July 1916 H5 spotted the leaving the Ems and torpedoed her. U-51 sank with the loss of 34 of her crew; four men survived.

HMS H5 was sunk after being rammed by the British merchantman Rutherglen when mistaken for a German U-boat on 2 March 1918. All on board perished including a US Navy observer, Lieutenant Earle Wayne Freed Childs from the American submarine AL-2. He became the first US submariner to lose his life in the First World War. All on board are commemorated on Panel 29 at Royal Navy Submarine Museum. The wreck's site is designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act. In 2010, a plaque commemorating the 26 crew was dedicated on Armed Forces Day in Holyhead.