HMAS AE2

HMAS AE2, in dock in Sydney, c. 1914
History
Australia
BuilderVickers Armstrong
Laid down10 February 1912
Launched18 June 1913
Commissioned28 February 1914
Honours and
awards
  • Battle honours:
  • Rabaul 1914
  • Dardanelles 1915
FateScuttled, 30 April 1915
General characteristics
Class and typeE-class submarine
Displacement750 long tons (762 t) surfaced
Length181 ft (55 m)
Beam22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Draught12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Installed power
  • 2 × 8-cylinder diesels, 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) surfaced,
  • battery-driven electric motors, 840 hp (630 kW) submerged
Propulsion2 × propeller shafts
Speed
  • 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced
  • 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) submerged
Range
  • 3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
  • 65 nmi (120 km; 75 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged
Test depth200 feet (61.0 m)
Complement34
Armament4 × 18-inch torpedo tubes

HMAS AE2 (originally known as AE2) was an E-class submarine of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of two submarines ordered for the fledgling navy, AE2 was built by Vickers Armstrong in England and was commissioned into the RAN in 1914. Together with her sister submarine, HMAS AE1, the boat then sailed to Australia in what was, at the time, the longest voyage ever undertaken by a submarine.

After the start of World War I, AE2 was sent to German New Guinea with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, then spent time patrolling around Fiji. With no need for submarines in the Pacific or Indian theatres, AE2 was towed to the Mediterranean, and arrived off Egypt in early 1915. The boat was assigned to the Dardanelles Campaign, and was the first submarine to successfully penetrate the waterway and enter the Sea of Marmara. With orders to "run amok" inside Turkish territory, AE2 operated for five days before mechanical faults forced her to the surface, where she was damaged by the torpedo boat Sultanhisar. The submarine was scuttled by her crew, all of whom were captured.

AE2 was the only RAN vessel lost to enemy action during World War I. The Rahmi M. Koç Museum began searching for the wreck in 1995, and found it in 1998. After another expedition in 2008, the Australian and Turkish Governments decided to leave the boat in place.