Submarines
Association
Australia
23 Oct 2025
SubmarinesAssociationAustralia23 Oct 2025 |
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110 years ago today RAN’s first submarines arrived in Sydney, HMA Submarines AE1 and AE2.
Built for the Royal Australian Navy, AE1 and AE2 were Australia’s first of two E Class submarines.
Under the respective commands of Lieutenant Commander T.F. Besant, RN and Lieutenant Commander H.H.G. Stoker, RN, these boats were manned by Royal Navy officers with a mixed crew of sailors drawn from the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy.
The boats arrived in Sydney 83 days after leaving Portsmouth and covered more than 13,000 miles. Although the submarines remained surfaced for almost all of the voyage, it was at the time the longest transit distance ever travelled by a submarine.
AE1 sank on 14 September 1914 during the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force operation to seize the German colonies in New Guinea and the South Pacific.Likely the result of a diving accident, the sinking claimed the lives of the submarine’s entire complement of three officers and 32 sailors. The wreck was located in December 2017 in 300 metres of water off the Duke of York Island group.
On 30 April 1915, AE2 successfully forced a passage through Türkiye’s heavily fortified Dardanelles Strait, before she sank in action. The crew were taken to a Turkish prison camp where all but four ratings survived. The wreck of AE2 was discovered in June 1998 lying in 72 metres of water north of Kara Burnu Point. The 110th anniversary of these boats’ arrival into the Royal Australian Navy is an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of their service and sacrifice more than a century ago.
