M-2 HMS submarine

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aukepalmhof
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M-2 HMS submarine

Post by aukepalmhof » Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:21 pm

Built as a submarine under yard no 494 by Vickers at Barrow for the Royal Navy.
13 July 1916 laid down.
15 April 1919 launched as HMS M-2 one of the M-class submarines.
Displacement 1,620 ton, surface, 1,977 ton submerged. Dim. 90.14 x 7.52 m, length bpp. 88.4m.
Powered by two 12-cyl Vickers diesel engines 2,400 hp, (1,800 kW), four electric motors 3,200 hp (2,400 kW), twin shafts, speed 15 knots surfaced, 8-9 knots submerged.
Range 2,000 mile by a speed of 15 knots.
Test depth 61 metres.
Armament when built: 1 – 12 inch 40 cal Mark IX gun, 1 – 3 inch Mk II HA AA guns. 4 – 18 inch bow torpedo tubes with 4 reload torpedoes.
Crew 62.
14 February 1920 completed.

HMS M2 was a Royal Navy submarine monitor completed in 1919, converted in 1927 into a submarine aircraft carrier. She was wrecked in Lyme Bay, Dorset, Britain, on 26 January 1932. She was one of three M-class boats completed.
Design and career
Four M-class submarines replaced the order for the last four K-class submarines, K17-K21. Although they were similar in size, the M class was an entirely different design from the K class, although it is possible that some material ordered for the K-boats went into them. In any event, the end of the First World War meant that only three were completed.
M2 was laid down at Vickers shipyard at Barrow in Furness in 1916 and launched in 1919. Like the other members of her class, she was armed with a single fixed 12-inch (305mm) gun as well as torpedo tubes. The Mark IX gun was taken from spares held for the Formidable-class battleships.
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The M-class submarines were very large for the time at 296 feet (90 m) long. They were designed to operate as submarine monitors or cruisers. They displaced 1,600 long tons (1,600 t) on the surface and 1,950 long tons (1,980 t) when submerged. Two 12-cylinder diesel engines producing 2,400 hp (1,800 kW) drove them on the surface; underwater, they were driven by electric motors producing 1,500 hp (1,100 kW).
After the accidental sinking of M1 in 1925, M2 and her sister M3 were taken out of service and reassigned for experimental use. Her 12-inch gun was removed, replaced by a small aircraft hangar, the work being completed in 1927. This could carry a small Parnall Peto seaplane, specially designed for the M2, which, once its wings had been unfolded, could be lowered onto the sea alongside by a derrick for taking off. On landing, the aircraft was hoisted back onto the deck and replaced into the hangar. In October 1928, a hydraulic aircraft catapult was fitted, to enable the seaplane to take off directly from the deck. The submarine was intended to operate ahead of the battle fleet in a reconnaissance role, flying off her unarmed seaplane as a scout.
The concept of a submarine cruiser was pursued with X1, but was not a success and was later abandoned.

Accident
M2 left her base at Portland on 26 January 1932, for an exercise in West Bay, Dorset, carrying Parnall Peto serial N255. Her last communication was a radio message at 10:11 to her submarine depot ship, TITANIA, to announce that she would dive at 10:30. The captain of a passing merchant ship, the Newcastle coaster TYNSIDER, mentioned that he had seen a large submarine dive stern first at around 11:15. Unaware of the significance of this, he only reported it in passing once he reached port.
Her entire crew of 60 was killed in the accident. The submarine was found on 3 February, eight days after her loss. Ernest Cox, the salvage expert who had raised the German battleships at Scapa Flow, was hired to salvage the M2. In an operation lasting nearly a year and 1,500 dives, on 8 December 1932, she was lifted to within 20 ft (6 m) of the surface before a gale sprang up, sending her down to her final resting place.
The hangar door was found open and the aircraft still in it. The accident was believed to be due to water entering the submarine through the hangar door, which had been opened to launch the aircraft shortly after surfacing.
Two explanations have been advanced. The first is that since the crew was always trying to beat their record time for launching the aircraft, they had opened the hangar door on surfacing while the deck was still awash. The other theory is that the flooding of the hangar was due to the failure of the stern hydroplanes. High-pressure air tanks were used to bring the boat to the surface in an awash condition, but to conserve compressed air compressors were then started to completely clear the ballast tanks of water by blowing air into them. This could take as long as 15 minutes to complete. The normal procedure for launching the aircraft was therefore to hold the boat on the surface using the hydroplanes whilst the hangar door was opened and the aircraft launched. Failure of the stern hydroplanes would have sent the stern down as observed by the merchant officers and water would have eventually entered the hangar.

Aftermath
The submarine currently lies upright on the sea bed at (50°34.6′N 2°33.93′W). Her keel is about 100 ft (30 m) below the surface at low tide, and her highest point at the top of the conning tower at around 66 ft (20 m). She is a popular dive for scuba divers. The wreck is designated as a "protected place" under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

After the loss of M2, the Royal Navy abandoned submarine-launched aircraft, although other navies experimented with the concept in the inter-war years and with Japan producing some 42 submarine aircraft carriers both before and during the Second World War.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_M2
Sierra Leone 2020 Le14500 sg?, Scott? (Although this issue was authorized by the postal administration of Sierra Leone, the issue was not placed on sale in Sierra Leone, and was only distributed to the new issue trade by Sierra Leone's philatelic agent
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British_Submarine_HMS_M2,_2.jpg
2020 hms M2 Submarines (2).jpg

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