HMS E13
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 The British submarine HMS E13 stranded off Saltholm |
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| Construction data | |
| Ship type | Submarine |
| Ship class | E class |
| Construction designation: | |
| Builder: | Chatham Dockyard in Chatham Construction No .:? |
| Keel laying : | December 16, 1912 |
| Launch : | September 22, 1914 |
| Completion: | December 10, 1914 |
| Building-costs: | £ 101,900 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Displacement : | 662 ts standard 807 ts submerged |
| Length: | 55.6 m |
| Width: | 6.86 m |
| Draft : | 3.81 m |
| Drive : | 2 × diesel engines with 1,600 HP 2 × electric motors 840 HP 2 propellers |
| Fuel supply: | 40 t |
| Speed : | 15.25 kn surfaced 9.75 kn submerged |
| Range : | 3,000 nm surfaced at 10 kn 99 nm submerged at 3 kn |
| maximum diving depth: | 200 ft (approx. 60 m) |
| Crew : | 31 men |
| Armament: | 5 × 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes 5 reserve torpedoes 1 × QF 12 pounder 18 cwt naval gun |
HMS E13 was an E-class submarine ofthe British Royal Navy that was in servicein the Baltic Sea during World War I.
The E13 belonged to a slightly improved sub-group of 46 boats of the E-class, which at the beginning of the First World War represented the most powerful and newest medium-sized submarine in the Royal Navy.
The boat was put into service under Lt. Cdr. Geoffrey Layton was assigned to the 8th submarine flotilla based in Harwich and used for patrols in the North Sea.
In August 1915 it was supposed to move together with the sister boat E8 through the Öresund to the Baltic Sea in order to support the Russian Baltic fleet there and to combat German merchant traffic to the Scandinavian countries. On August 8, 1915, it left the base in Harwich together with its sister ship and tried to force the sound between Copenhagen and Malmö on August 15 . Due to a compass error, it ran aground around 11 p.m. in the narrow fairway due to minefields and natural conditions near the Danish island of Saltholm .
All attempts to free E13 failed, so that the boat was discovered on the morning of August 19, 1915 by the Danish guard ship Falster . In the morning around 5 a.m. the Danish torpedo boat Narhvalen scouted the stranded submarine and identified it as a British one. Lt. Cdr. Layton informed the Danish commander that the boat would withdraw from the neutral Danish waters within 24 hours. Shortly afterwards, other Danish ships appeared at the distressed vessel , including the torpedo boats Støren and Søulven at 8.45 a.m. to watch the submarine.
The accumulation of ships near the stranded submarine had already attracted the attention of the German torpedo boat G 132 , patrolling the south of Saltholm as sound surveillance, at around 6 a.m. , which then tried to sound out the situation. After intensive radio communication with German authorities, G 132 and its sister ship G 134 launched a surprise attack on the submarine at 10:28 am. G 132 , under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Paul Graf von Montgelas, fired a torpedo at the submarine at medium range and at the same time there was a short and violent artillery attack of both German boats on E13 . The submarine was badly damaged and 15 crew members died in the attack. The surprised Danes did not intervene, but tried to prevent the submarine from being shot at by maneuvering the Danish torpedo boats between the German boats and the damaged vessel to prevent boarding. At 10:35 a.m., the German boats turned and left the battlefield. The surviving 14 sailors of the E13 were rescued from Danish ships and then interned until 1918.
The wreck of E13 was later salvaged by the Danish Navy and taken to Copenhagen. After the First World War, it was scrapped from December 1921 on behalf of the British by the Petersen & Albeck company in Copenhagen.
