HMS C24
Encyclopedia
HMS C24 was a British C class submarine
British C class submarine
The British C class submarines were the last class of petrol engined submarines of the Royal Navy and marked the end of the development of the Holland-class in the Royal Navy...
built by Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
, Barrow
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
. She was laid down on 12 February 1908 and was commissioned on 5 May 1909.
Service history
HMS C24 was used in the first successful U-boatU-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
trap. She operated with the decoy trawler
Q-ship
Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships, or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them...
Taranaki. They were able to sink 25 miles (40.2 km) off Eyemouth
Eyemouth
Eyemouth , historically spelt Aymouth, is a small town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north-south A1 road and just north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. It has a population of circa 3,420 people .The town's name comes from its location at...
in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
on 23 June 1915.
The tactic was to use a decoy trawler to tow a submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
. When a U-boat was sighted, the tow line and communication line was slipped and the submarine would attack the U-boat. The tactic was partly successful, but was abandoned after the loss of two C class submarines. In both cases, all the crew were lost.
HMS C24 was sold on 29 May 1921 in Sunderland.