HMAS AE 2

Den Australske ubåten AE 2 ble senket av sin egen besetning 29. April 1915 i Dardanellene utenfor Tyrkia`s kyst etter å ha blitt det første marinefartøyetet på over 400 år som klarte å passere sundet i Dardanellene. Etter en heroisk reise og aktiv tjeneste hvor hun blandt annet senket en Tyrkisk jager, ble ubåten senket av sin egen besetning etter å ha fått store skader. 29. April 1915 forsvant ubåten i dypet, og Lieutenant Commander H. S. Stoker og hans besetning av Australiere og Briter endte som krigsfanger resten av krigen. Vraket av AE 2 ble lokalisert i 1988, og hviler idag på kjølen, delvis nedgravd i sanden på en dybde av syttito meter. Ubåten er i forbausende god stand etter alle årene på havets bunn, og de fleste detaljer kunne fortsatt ses når vraket for første gang siden 1915 ble besøkt av dykkere..

The Australian submarine AE 2 was sunk by her own crew 29. April in the Dardanelle's outside the Turkish coastline after becoming the first naval vessel for over 400 years that had succeed in penetrating the Dardanelle's. After a heroic journey and active duty where they among other things managed to sink a Turkish destroyer, the submarine were scuttled by her own crew after having received much damage. 29. April 1915 the submarine disappeared in the deep, and Lieutenant Commander H. S. Stoker and his crew of Australian and British ended as prisoners of war for the rest of the war. The wreck of AE 2 was located in 1988, and rest today on her keel, partly buried in the sand on a depth of seventy two meters. The submarine is remarkably in a good condition after all the years at the bottom of the sea, and most details could still be seen when the wreck was visited for the first time since 1915 by divers...

Name:	Former names:	Material:	Dimensions:
HMAS AE 2		Steel	55,16x 6,85x 3,81m.

Tons:	Built:	Homeport:	Cargo:
660 depl surfaced	( UK) 1913	( AUS )

Class: E Class light submarine
Launched: 18 June 1913
Commissioned: 28 February 1914
Complement: 35
Length: 181 feet
Beam: 22 feet 6 inches
Draught: 12 feet, 6 inches
Displacement: 660 tons surfaced, 800 tons submerged
Speed: 15 knots surfaced, 10 knots submerged
Armament: 4 x 18-inch torpedo tubes
After commissioning, AE2 accompanied by AE1, sailed to Australia,
arriving at Sydney in May 1914.

Information from Australian War Memorial:

The AE1 and the AE2 Submarines - Australia’s first submarines
Australia’s first submarines, the AE1 and the AE2 , were launched in 1913 and were manned by composite Australian and British crews. At the outbreak of the First World War, the AE1 and the AE2 were sent from Sydney to German New Guinea with the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force and helped to capture the German colony. On 14 September, a day after the official German surrender of the colony, the AE1, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Thomas Besant, left Rabaul harbour to patrol Cape Gazelle, and never returned. The fate of the submarine was never known, but it is probable that the submarine was caught on a coral reef and sunk. The AE2, commanded by Lieutenant Commander H. S. Stoker, achieved fame for its operations in the Dardanelles. The AE2 was ordered to sail through the Dardanelles, and disrupt Turkish shipping in the Sea of Marmora. No other submarine had yet managed to breach the Turkish defences, but in the early hours of 25 April 1915, the AE2 got past minefields and land-based guns, and after torpedoing a Turkish destroyer, it reached the Sea of Marmora. The AE2 remained at large for five more days before sustaining irreparable damage while under heavy fire. Stoker was forced to sink the submarine and surrender. He and his crew spent the rest of the war in Turkish captivity. Stoker was awarded the Distinguished Service Order after the war.

Edited 29.06.2007