The Battle of May Island is the name given to the series of accidents that occurred during Operation E.C.1 in 1918.
Named after the Isle of May, a nearby island in the Firth of Forth, the "battle" consisted of a disastrous series of accidents amongst Royal Navy vessels on their way from Rosyth, Scotland, to fleet exercises in the North Sea. On the misty night of 31 January1 February 1918, five collisions occurred between eight vessels. Two K-class submarines were lost and four other submarines and a light cruiser were damaged. 105 British sailors in total died in the accidents.
Nomenclature
The use of Battle for the events is an example of black humour. Although it took place during the First World War, no enemy forces were present and the losses were entirely accidental.
Operation E.C.1
On the afternoon of 31 January 1918, around forty naval vessels left Rosyth on the Firth of Forth, Scotland, bound for Scapa Flow in Orkney where exercises involving the entire Grand Fleet would take place the following day. The vessels included the 5th Battle Squadron of three battleships with their destroyer escorts, the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron of four battlecruisers and their destroyers, two cruisers and two flotillas of K-class submarines each led by a surface warship. The K-class submarines, specially designed to operate with a battle fleet, were large boats for their time, at long. The submarines were powered by steam turbines to allow them to travel at 24 knots on the surface to keep up with their fleet.
The two flotillas were the 12th Submarine Flotilla, consisting of , , and , led by Captain Charles Little in the light cruiser HMS Fearless, and the 13th Submarine Flotilla, consisting of , , , and , led by Commander Ernest William Leir in the destroyer HMS Ithuriel.
The night was clear and the seas relatively calm, but the moon had not yet come up. As each group passed the Isle of May at the mouth of the firth, they altered course and increased speed to 20 knots.
At approximately 19:00 hours, Courageous passed the Isle of May and increased speed, just as a low-lying bank of mist settled over the sea. As the 13th Submarine Flotilla passed the island, a pair of lights (possibly minesweeping naval trawlers) were seen approaching the line of submarines. The flotilla altered course sharply to port to avoid them, but the helm of the third-in-line K14 jammed for six minutes and she veered out of line. Both K14 and the boat behind her, K12 turned on their navigation lights. Eventually K14<nowiki/>'s helm was freed and she tried to return to her position in the line. The next submarine in line, K22, had lost sight of the rest of the flotilla in the mist and veered off the line, with the result that she hit K14 at 19:17 hours, severing the bow and breaching the forward mess deck, where two men were killed. Both stricken submarines stopped and carefully pulled themselves apart whilst the rest of the flotilla, unaware of what had happened, continued out to sea.
thumb|HMS K12 in 1924
K22 radioed in code to the cruiser leading the flotilla to say that she could reach port but that K14 was crippled and sinking.
About fifteen minutes later, the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron passed the island and the two submarines. The captain of K22 ordered the firing of a red Very light, which ensured three of the four battlecruisers were able to avoid both submarines. However, the battlecruiser Inflexible bringing up the rear struck K22 a glancing blow at 19:43 hours before continuing on her way. The impact bent the first of the bow of K22 at right angles and wrecked the ballast and fuel tanks, and she settled by the bow until only the conning tower showed.
Meanwhile, Leir, captain of Ithuriel, had received and decoded the message about the first collision between the two submarines and turned back to help them. Leir sent an encoded message to the flag officer on Australia at 20:40 hours, warning them of what was happening. "Submarines K-12 and K-22 have been in collision and are holed forward. I am proceeding to their assistance with 13th Submarine Flotilla. Position 18 miles east magnetic from May Island".
This could have made a difference and prevented the loss of at least some of those in the water, except that the primitive technology of the time meant that transmission was delayed until 21:20.
At this point the 5th Battle Squadron of three battleships and their destroyers passed through the area, unaware of what had happened, with some of the destroyers cutting down the survivors of K17 struggling in the water. Only nine of the 56 men originally on board the submarine survived, and one of these died of his injuries shortly afterwards. A total of 48 men from K17's crew were lost.
Within 75 minutes, two submarines had sunk, three had been badly damaged, and 105 men had been killed. The case of negligence against Leir for the loss of K-17 was "not proved". Both the investigation and court martial were kept quiet, with much of the information not released until 1994. The Submariners' Association holds an annual commemorative service to honour the loss of life.