This section is for an old mate of mine, Wayne Sands, a most dedicated and professional submariner - According to him there were only two types of seagoing vessels. Submarines; and their Targets! To Sandy we were all just "Skimmers".

After the formation of the Royal Australian Navy, initial plans for Australian submarines were for three British "C" Class boats but only two of the improved "E" Class were authorised. At a submerged displacement of 810 tons and speed of 10 knots both submarines were commissioned at Portsmouth on 28th February 1914. They were named AE1 and AE2, and the 'A' in their name standing for Australian.

Beset with minor problems during their delivery voyage from England AE1 and AE2 arrived in Sydney on 24 May 1914, just three months before the outbreak of World War 1. It was a baptism of fire that was to see both these boats lost, one in action and one without a trace.

AE1 and AE2 were assigned to operations in New Guinea waters at the outbreak of the war. One month later AE1 was gone. On 14 September 1914 AE1 was on patrol with HMAS Parramatta of Cape Gazelle, New Britain. At the end of the patrol she was sighted by Parramatta apparently heading into harbour, but she never arrived.

After the loss of AE1, AE2 was offered for use by the Admiralty. She sailed under the tow of HMAS Berrima from Australia to the Middle East on 31 December 1914, and arrived as the preparations for the Dardenelles (Gallipoli) campaign got underway.

On the first Anzac Day, 25 April 1915, AE2 attempted to reach the Sea of Marmora through the straits for the purpose of disrupting enemy shipping. During the next five days AE2 was involved in a series of actions which saw her attacked repeatedy by enemy vessels. On the morning of 30 April 1915 she was attacked by a Turkish torpedo boat and forced to the surface. After being holed by the torpedo boat AE2 was scuttled by her crew and snak off Kara Burnu Point. All hands spent the remainder of the war as POWs.

With the loss of AE2, the Australian submarine service ceased to exist for the next four years.

Then in 1919 as a gift package which included a number of destroyers, six "J" Class submarines were transferred from the Royal Navy to the R.A.N. The J boats were commissioned into the R.A.N. in March 1919 and in April sailed for Australia in company with HMAS Sydney and the submarine depot ship HMAS Platypus. They arrived in Sydney in July 1919 and being found in poor condition were immediately placed in refit.

In 1920 after extensive work, five boats sailed from Sydney to the new submarine base at Geelong, Victoria. The depot ship Platypus and the turret ship HMAS Cerberus were moored there also for support. The sixth boat J7, did not complete her refit until June 1922.

The only major cruise for the new submarines was to Tasmania in 1921. Apart from that the "J" Class spent very little time at sea and had very uneventful lives with the R.A.N.

With the exception of J7 all the boats were decommissioned and sold out of service by 1924. J7 was used for some years as an auxillary power plant at Flinders Naval Depot in Victoria. The remains of J3 can be seen as a breakwater in Port Phillip Bay. For the second time the R.A.N. submarine service was extinct.

Above is a post card sent from HMAS Encounter in New Guniea - The last ever photo taken of AE1

Related Links on this Site
Submarine AE2 In WW1

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