HMS Swordfish (1916)

HMS Swordfish
History
United Kingdom (RN)
Name	HMS Swordfish
Ordered	8 August 1913
Builder	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock
Laid down	28 February 1914
Launched	18 March 1916
Commissioned	28 April 1916
Decommissioned	30 October 1918
Renamed	HMS S1 on 28 April 1916 Reverted to HMS Swordfish in July 1917
Fate	Sold for scrapping in July 1922 Resold in 1923
General characteristics
Displacement	932 long tons (947 t) (surface) 1,105 long tons (1,123 t) (submerged)
Length	231 ft 3.5 in (70.498 m) (overall)
Beam	22 ft 11 in (6.99 m)
Draught	14 ft 11 in (4.55 m)
Installed power	4,000 shp (3,000 kW) (turbines) 1,400 bhp (1,000 kW) (electric motors)
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 geared steam turbines 1 boiler, 2 electric motors
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) surfaced (designed) 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) submerged
Range	3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph)
Complement	18
Armament	2 × 3-inch (76 mm) guns 2 × 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes (bow) 4 × 18-inch (460 mm) torpedo tubes (beam)

HMS Swordfish was an experimental submarine built for the Royal Navy before the First World War to meet the Navy's goal of an "overseas" submarine capable of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) on the surface. Diesel engines of the period were unreliable and not very powerful so steam turbines were proposed instead to meet the RN's requirement. Swordfish proved to be slower than designed and unstable while surfacing, and consequently she was modified as an anti-submarine patrol vessel in 1917. She was paid off before the end of the war and sold for scrapping in 1922.