HMS E39

HMS E39 was a British E class submarine launched by Palmers, Jarrow in 1916 and was completed by Armstrong Whitworth, Newcastle upon Tyne.

She was launched on 18 May 1916 and was commissioned in October 1916.

HMS E39 was sold on 13 October 1921.

In December 1922 she foundered in Watwick Bay at the entrance to Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, while on tow to the shipbreakers.

Like all post-E8 British E-class submarines, E39 had a displacement of 662 tonnes at the surface and 807 tonnes while submerged.

She had a total length of 180 feet and a beam length of 22 feet 8.5 inches.

She was powered by two 800 horsepower Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two 420 horsepower electric motors.

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 16 knots and a submerged speed of 10 knots.

British E-class submarines had fuel capacities of 50 tonnes of diesel and ranges of 3,255 miles when travelling at 10 knots.

E39 was capable of operating submerged for five hours when travelling at 5 knots.

E39 was armed with a 12-pounder QF gun mounted forward of the conning tower.

She had five 18 inch torpedo tubes, two in the bow, one either side amidships, and one in the stern; a total of 10 torpedoes were carried.

E-Class submarines had wireless systems with 1 kilowatt power ratings.

In some submarines, these were later upgraded to 3 kilowatts systems by removing a midships torpedo tube.

Their maximum design depth was 100 feet although in service some reached depths of below 200 feet.

Some submarines contained Fessenden oscillator systems.

Data from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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