HMS A5 was an early Royal Navy submarine. She was a member of Group Two of the first British of submarines. Like all members of her class, she was built at Vickers Barrow-in-Furness.
Design and construction
The A-class was designed by Vickers as an improvement on the previous American designed Holland-class submarines, and were the first class of British-designed submarines. Four submarines, –, were ordered as part of the 1902–1903 construction programme for the Royal Navy, with a further nine (A5–) ordered under the 1903–1904 programme. The design of the submarines was revised between the prototype boat, A1, and the other three submarines of the first order, and again for the submarines of the 1903–04 programme, with this batch being fitted with a second torpedo tube.
Service history
Immediately after commissioning she and her tender travelled to Queenstown, (now Cobh) Ireland. On 16 February 1905 at 10:05 whilst tied up alongside Hazard an explosion occurred on board, with a second explosion about 30 minutes later. Five of the crew were killed by the explosion. The captain, Lieutenant H J G Good, and the other four crew members survived.
An enquiry into the accident concluded that petrol fumes had been ignited by an electrical spark, with the second explosion caused by smouldering debris from the first event.