HMS C27
Encyclopedia
HMS C27 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 4 June 1908 and was commissioned on 14 August 1909.
Service history
HMS C27 along with the trawler Princess Louise (ex-Princess Marie Jose) sank in the Fair Isle Channel between Orkney and Shetland on 20 July 1915 during the 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 tactic.
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 C27 was involved in the Baltic operations
British submarine flotilla in the Baltic
A British submarine flotilla operated in the Baltic Sea for three years during the First World War. The squadron of nine submarines was attached to the Russian Baltic Fleet. The main task of the flotilla was to prevent the import of iron ore from Sweden to Imperial Germany...
from 1915 to 1918.
HMS C27 was scuttled on 5 April 1918 outside Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
(Helsingfors) south of the Harmaja Light (Gråhara) to avoid seizure by advancing German forces. HMS C27 was salvaged for breaking up in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
in August 1953.