HMAS AE2 fact sheet
HMAS AE2 was the second E-class submarine purchased by the Australian Government for inclusion in the fledgling Royal Australian Navy in 1913. Her sister-ship HMAS AE1 sailed to Australia with her, but was lost with all on board while on patrol in the waters off Rabaul in New Guinea. At the time of her construction, AE2 represented the state-of-the-art in submarine technology. |
| Cost: | £115,000 |
| Built: | Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England |
| Launched: | 18 June 1913 |
| Commissioned: | 28 February 1914 |
| Complement: | 35 |
| Length: | 181 feet [55.16m] |
| Beam: | 22 feet 6 inches [6.85m] |
| Draught: | 12 feet, 6 inches [3.81m] |
| Displacement: | 660 tonnes surfaced, 800 tonnes submerged |
| Speed: | 15 knots surfaced, 10 knots submerged |
| Armaments: | Four 18-inch Whitehead torpedo tubes – single bow tube: two tubes in the beam port and starboard, stern tube. AE2 carried 8 torpedoes: two at each of the 4 firing positions |
| Periscopes: | Two: the main a fixed lens and another with moveable optics to view the sky |
| Crew: | 32 (three officers and 29 seamen) |
| Other details: | Gyro-compass; Marconi wireless (Marconi Type 10 M/F transmitter); wooden radio mast, which folded down to the deck when not in use. |
