R._,                    Photo, Cribb, Southsea

• R 1 - 4 by Chatham D.Y.
• R 5, R 6 by Pembroke D.Y,
• R 7 R 8 by Vickers,
• R 9, R 1O by Armstrong Whitworth,
• R 11, R 12 by Cammell Laird.

• All launched and finished 1918.
• Single hull type to Admiralty designs. Approximate dimensions : 160 x 15 - 16 x 12 feet.
• Guns: 1 - 3 inch or 4 inch in some.
• Tubes: Unofficially reported to have 4 or 6 - 18 inch bow.
• Machinery: No exact details, but said to have 1 set of hot-bulb or heavy oil motors. Oil capacity small, but have an abnormal submerged endurance. Other details as Table.

Notes.- Built under Emergency War Programme. These boats (sometimes called the "Little Arthurs") were produced as a "submarine destroyer of submarines." Their outstanding feature is that unlike nearly all other submarines in the world - they are faster below water than on the surface. They are short in length, have large rudder and hydroplane areas and small reserve of buoyancy for quick diving and rapid handling. It was intended that they should submerge and chase U-boats, and use their four bow tubes by salvo, specially big torpedo-compensating tanks with rapid flooding gear being placed in bows. Also said to have hydrophones for tracking hostile submarines

© Jane's Information Group

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