HM Submarine Holland 1
1900 The Admiralty struck a deal with the American Electric Boat Co to build five Holland design submarines under licence at the Vickers, Sons and Maxim shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness at a cost of £35,000 each. This type of submarine had been patented by John Philip Holland, who sold his patents to Isaac Rice. The Electric Boat Co supplied drawings and components for an improved design that was bigger and more powerful than the US Navy's first submarine the Holland Type 6. They also agreed to send some experienced submariners to train the first British crew.
1901 Eight months later Britain's first submarine was pushed out of Yacht Shed No. 1 and down the slipway.
1904 On 24 October, with the rest of the Holland fleet and three A-class boats, Holland 1 sailed from Portsmouth to attack a Russian fleet that had mistakenly sunk a number of British fishing vessels in the North Sea in the Dogger Bank incident. The boats were recalled before any attack could take place.
1913 She was sunk by accident while under tow to a breaker's yard in Wales.
The wreck was located in 1981 by Michael Pearn. In November 1982 she was raised. She was taken to the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport for a lengthy ptogramme of stabilisation preparatory to display. The original lead-acid batteries, recovered with the wreckage, were tested by the original manufacturer, Chloride Industrial Batteries Ltd based in Swinton. After cleaning, they were recharged and found to be in good working order.
Technical Data
Length 63 ft 4"; beam 11 ft 9"; 160 HP petrol engine; 70 HP electric motor.[1]
Some sources identify Wolseley as the maker of the vessel's petrol engine, but a maker's plate recovered with the wreck confirms that the engine installed when the submarine was lost was made by the Otto Gas Engine Works of Philadelphia. Rating: 160 HP, 320 rpm.[2]