| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | X1 |
| Builder | HM Dockyard, Chatham |
| Laid down | 2 November 1921 |
| Launched | 16 June 1923 |
| Completed | 23 September 1925 |
| Commissioned | December 1925 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 12 December 1936 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 363 ft 6 in (110.8 m) |
| Beam | 29 ft 9 in (9.1 m) |
| Draught | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Endurance | |
| Test depth | 350 ft (110 m) |
| Complement | 111 (11 officers and 100 ratings) |
| Armament |
|
HM Submarine X1 was a British submarine of the interwar period. Conceived and designed as a submersible commerce raider for the Royal Navy; at the time of her launching she was the largest submarine in the world. For Britain, the idea of a submarine cruiser had been proposed as early as 1915, but the type was not put into practice until after the end of World War I in 1918. X1 was laid down on 2 November 1921 at HM Dockyard, Chatham and completed on 23 September 1925 with commissioning following in December 1925.
The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, of which Britain was a signatory, did not ban submarines but it did ban their use against merchant ships, which was X1's unacknowledged purpose; its armament had been designed to successfully engage the classes of vessels likely to be escorting convoys, such as destroyers and frigates. Therefore, a certain amount of secrecy surrounded X1, the government even going to the lengths of taking a national newspaper to court over its pictures of the new submarine following her launch, all copies of the paper being seized.[citation needed]
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