Pen and Sword Books

K Boat Catastrophe Eight Ships and Five Collisions

by  N. S. Nash

Reviewed By  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: $39.99 ISBN: 978 1 84415 984 0 Website: www.casematepublishing.com I knew about the K Boats before I read this book. I have a book called The K Boats which came out in the late 60s. This book fills in those gaps in the narrative of the earlier book, plus it has the story of the court martial which happened after the "Battle" of the Isle of May. The record of the court martial was classified until 1996 (!), and this book uses those court records to give a full picture of what really happened. Background The K boats were a class of British Royal Navy submarines. The first RN subs were the Holland class, of 1901-1902, followed by the A class (1902-05), the B class, (1904-06) and on through the J class of 1915. The J class were "conventional" boats, diesel-electric, and as far as the Admiralty was concerned, they were abject failures. The requirement for these subs was that they be able to do 21 to 24 knots on the surface. This was fast enough to accompany the fleet into the battle area, where they would submerge and provide flank protection as well as trying to get behind the enemy to pick off stragglers as they retreated from the fearsome power of the Royal Navy’s battle fleet. The diesel engines just wouldn’t provide enough speed, getting only 19 knots. Admiral "Jackie" Fisher, whose idea for the battle fleet was to have powerful, fast surface ships, which gave up much of their armor protection, wanted submarines with the speed to keep up with the fleet. HMS Hood was one of the results of his "battle cruiser" program. To get the speed necessary, Vickers offered the Admiralty the K class, with that tried and true, proven power plant, the steam engine. I mean, what could go wrong? Well, there were the steam boilers, which made the inside of the hull so hot it was unbearable in the engine room until extra large ventilators were added. And the two funnels, which weren’t really tall enough to keep waves out in any but the calmest seas, which put the fires out in the boilers. And the fact that submerging took about 5 minutes, as the stacks had to be folded, the fires put out, and the ventilators closed before the boat could go underwater. The book quotes Admiral Fisher as saying that a steam engine in a submarine was "a very bad idea". But they did it anyway. I was also rather taken aback because the K boats also had a diesel engine, necessary to charge the batteries for undersea operation. The K boats were generally considered as unlucky, with many accidents and collisions. But it was wartime, and the Royal Navy needed those subs, in case the Kaiser’s Navy sortied again, for a follow-up to the Battle of Jutland. The only recorded combat for a K boat was an attack on a U-Boat, which had no result when the K boat’s torpedo failed to explode. The Battle The "Battle" of the Isle of May happened on January 31, 1918. The fleet was to exercise by leaving Rosyth Navy Yard, go down the Firth of Forth to the North Sea, and practice maneuvers. Because it was wartime, the fleet departed just after sunset, in a line astern formation. The formation was in this order: Courageous (Flagship). Ithuriel (Sub section lead ship). K-11. K-17. K-14. K-12. K-22. 5 mile gap. Australia. New Zealand. Indomitable. Inflexible. 5 mile gap. Fearless (Sub section lead ship). K-4. K-3. K-6. K-7. 5 mile gap. Barham. Warspite. Valiant. There was a report of a U-Boat off the mouth of the Firth, so the ships were ordered to go out at 21 knots to reduce chances of being torpedoed. When the first groups of K boats were even with the Isle of May, they spotted in the fog, two or three guard boats for the antisubmarine net at Isle of May... K-11 and K-17 turned slightly to avoid them. K-14 started to turn, but the rudder stuck, and the boat turned 180 degrees. It collided almost head on with K-22. While the two subs were sorting things out, K-22 was sideswiped by Inflexible. On getting word by Wireless that K-14 and K-22 had collided, the commander of the 13th Submarine Flotillla, Commander Ernest Leir had Ithuriel turn back and give aid. He was followed by the remaining 3 K boats, 11, 17, and 12. As they steamed back up the firth, K-17 was struck broadside by Fearless. The bottom photo on the cover is Fearless’ bow. When Fearless saw K-17 come out of the fog dead ahead, they reversed engines and used the siren to signal the following K boats of this action. K-4 and K-3 turned and slowed down. K-6 had lost sight of K-3, and when he saw the lights ahead he turned to regain formation, only to discover it was the stopped K-4. K-6 hit K-4 broadside. K-7 then ran over the sinking K-4. Much of the above action is covered in this book through flashbacks involving the testimony of the court martial of Commander Leir. He was accused of negligence in his conduct during the Isle of May incident. Because of wartime morale considerations, the court was conducted closed-door, with no announcement or publicity. The ultimate verdict I will leave for those who read this fine book. Another addition for the history buff is a set of "what happened to…" lists. The ultimate fate of the surviving K-Boats is told, and also the later careers and lives of the main participants and survivors of the "Battle". Conclusion If you’re interested in submarines, or the Royal Navy in the Great War, you’ll love this book. It’s not a modeler’s reference, and they’ll probably never release a kit of a K (for Katastrophe) boat, but we’re also mostly history buffs. This is an interesting read, which goes into the personalities and politics of a weapons system which was unloved and feared by their crews. My thanks to Casemate Publishing for a great read!