This Just Might Be the Worst Submarine Ever Built

War Is Boring

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Think steam-powered submarines.

Like the airplane, the submarine evolved in the early 20th century into a real weapon. But for the British Royal Navy, this posed a dilemma. The Admiralty’s battle plan for its revolutionary new dreadnoughts foresaw high-speed clashes between rival fleets armed with very-long-range guns.

The new dreadnoughts and battlecruisers launching from British shipyards hit the waves at speeds above 21 knots. If subs were to play any role in such a war, they had to be fast. The fastest British sub in 1912 topped out at 15 knots on the surface. Submarines are also important scouts — further emphasizing the importance of speed.

In 1913 naval architect Sir Eustace Tennyson d’Eyncourt presented Adm. Lord John “Jacky” Fisher with plans for a very large high-speed submarine capable of 20 knots surfaced. The K-class submarine, in theory, should be fast enough to scout ahead of the fleet, submerge below an enemy fleet and attack them from behind.

To achieve such high speeds, d’Eyncourt turned to oil-fired steam turbines, then the only power plant capable of the job.

That’s right, a steam-powered submarine. It worked out as badly as it sounds.

Above, at top and below — K-class submarines, one stranded on a sandbar. Photos via Wikimedia

Lousy leviathans

When Fisher saw the K-class design he famously exclaimed that “the most fatal error imaginable would be to put steam engines in a submarine.” But during the war in 1915, confronted with the limits of present art, he relented and authorized the design. The Admiralty received a total of 17 K-class subs between 1916 and 1923.

They totally sucked.

To accommodate steam propulsion, auxiliary diesels and the rest of a warship’s machinery, the K-class had to be huge — 338 feet long and weighing 2,500 tons submerged. That was as big as a destroyer. But they were fast — 24 knots on the surface during trials — a speed not equaled until the fish-shaped nuclear subs of the 1960s.