N700117 HMS M1

The HMS M1 was a British classic diesel-electric submarine, the keel of which was laid in 1916, launched in July 1917, and commissioned with the Royal Navy in 1918. The vessel was 90.1 m long, 7.52 m wide, and its underwater displacement was about 2,000 tons. In turn, the maximum underwater speed was up to 8-9 knots. The armament consisted of a single 305mm Mark IX cannon, a single 76mm anti-aircraft gun and 4 450mm torpedo tubes. HMS M1 was the leading unit of the "M" class of submarines. This type of unit was created in connection with the British Admiralty's desire to create a class of submarines with strong artillery armament. It was assumed that a large-caliber cannon would be more effective in fighting enemy navigation than the torpedoes of that time. This resulted in the installation of a single 305mm gun as the main armament. However, the idea turned out not to be very successful, due to the relatively long time it took to prepare the gun to fire on the surface and an equally long reloading time. Moreover, fire control on such narrow and relatively low ships turned out to be a problem as well. Finally, only 3 out of 4 planned M-class ships were built. HMS M1 was not used in combat during the Great War (1914-1918), and in 1918 it served in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. In 1921, the ship was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. The vessel sank on November 12, 1925, along with the entire crew, as a result of a collision with a civilian ship.