AE2 story: 1913–1915
Background
The history of HMAS AE2 (AE2) dates to the decision in 1909 that Australia should create and control its own navy. Before then, the Royal Navy (RN) alone controlled and defended the interests of the colonies and dominions of the British Empire. Initially, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) opposed the purchase of submarines in favour of torpedo boats and destroyers. However, in 1907, the Australian Prime Minister Alfred Deakin was convinced by British politicians and the RN to include submarines in its new fleet.
Two submarines, HMAS AE1 (AE1) and AE2 were built for the Australian navy by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness in the United Kingdom. AE2 was launched on 18 June 1913 and commissioned on 28 February 1914. With new crews and commanding officers, the two submarines sailed for and reached Australia in 1914. The voyage took 83 days, 60 of which were at sea.
Specifications
In comparison to modern submarines, the E-class submarines built before World War I were small, cramped and had limited armaments. The submarines were 181 feet (55.16 meters) long and 660 tonnes surfaced (800 tonnes submerged). They had a speed of 15 knots on the surface, with a maximum speed dived of 10 knots. Each submarine had four 18-inch torpedo tubes, and carried eight torpedoes. AE1 and AE2 were not armed with guns. View the HMAS AE2 fact sheet for details about the AE1’s and AE2’s specifications.
HMAS AE2 reconstruction
© DSTO
AE1 and AE2 at war in the Pacific
Australia entered World War I in August 1914, six months after the two submarines arrived in Australia. Initially, they were ordered into the Pacific to search for the German Pacific squadron under Admiral Graf von Spree. At the time, Germany had a number of colonies in the Pacific, including New Guinea. On 14 September, the AE1 and its entire crew disappeared without a trace. The 
Australian War Memorial website suggests that the AE1 may have struck an uncharted reef and sank. The commander of the AE2, HG ‘Dacre’ Stoker believed that the loss of the AE1 was due to mechanical failure or an accident while diving. The remains of the AE1 are still lost to this day.
HMAS AE1 and AE2, 1914
Australian War Memorial Negative Number H1159
The Gallipoli Campaign
In Melbourne in December 1914, AE2 linked up with ships carrying 15,000 men and 5,000 horses of the second contingent of the Australian Imperial Forces which were being sent to the Middle East. The fleet arrived in the Mediterranean at the end of January 1915. From there, the British Admiralty ordered Lieutenant Commander Stoker and his submarine to join the Allied naval force off the Dardanelles and participate in the Gallipoli Campaign.
The Allied command sought to send submarines through the highly defended narrows of the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmara to attack and hinder Ottoman supplies and reinforcements from reaching the battlefields of Gallipoli. But minefields in the straits had already claimed three battleships of the British and French fleets and severely damaged three others. Two other Allied submarines had tried and failed the same task, resulting in their destruction.
On 24 April 1915, AE2 first attempted to penetrate the Dardanelles. The AE2 reached 6 nautical miles (11 km) into the Dardanelles before being forced back with mechanical problems. (Stevens, D 2001, The Royal Australian Navy: A History).
AE2 in action
At 2.30 am on 25 April 1915, AE2 re-entered the Dardanelles on the surface, trying not to be spotted by searchlights. Shortly before dawn, as the first boatloads of ANZAC soldiers were approaching the coast of the Gallipoli Peninsula, AE2, under fire from Ottoman shore batteries, dived into the heavily mined waters. Without sophisticated radar and sonar systems, their passage through the minefields was a matter of chance.
On that first day, while again risking time on the surface, AE2 torpedoed and damaged the Ottoman gunboat Peyk I Sevket (Peykisevket). Following this engagement, AE2 was pursued by Ottoman surface vessels, running aground twice beneath the Ottoman forts along the shore. The Ottoman artillery in these forts could not fire on AE2 as the guns could not be lowered sufficiently.
AE2 running amok in the Narrows
Painting by Phil Belbin
By the morning of 26 April, after many hours submerged to avoid attack and only rising when absolutely necessary, AE2 had passed through the Dardanelles and entered the Sea of Marmara. Over four days she attacked enemy ships with torpedoes, but without success. On 29 April, she met the British submarine E14 which was the first of a number of submarines that followed AE2 into the Sea of Marmara. On 30 April, while attempting to rendezvous with the E14, AE2 was confronted with the Ottoman torpedo boat Sultan Hissar (Sultanhisar). As AE2 attempted to dive out of danger’s way, it encountered mechanical problems and was forced again to the surface where it was attacked and fatally damaged. All on board were forced to abandon the submarine and were taken captive. Stoker and his crew ensured, however, that AE2 sank to the bottom of the sea so that the Ottoman forces would not be able to take possession of it.
‘British and Australian Submarines in the Dardanelles, 1915’ on the Researching Australians at Gallipoli and Australians at War website includes an detailed animation of the AE2’s actions between 24–29 April 1915, based on Lieutenant Commander Stoker’s report.
Despite its sinking, the determined and wily commander and crew of AE2 paved the way for a number of other Allied submarines to negotiate the difficult straits of the Dardanelles, causing great disruption to Ottoman supplies and reinforcements moving on and around the Sea of Marmara.
