HMS E7 was a British E class submarine

British E class submarine

The British E class submarines started out as improved versions of the British D class submarine. All of the first group and some of the second group were completed before the outbreak of World War I....

 built at Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

. She was laid down on 30 March 1912 and was commissioned on 16 March 1914. She cost £105,700.

Service history

E7 had a short career in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. She took part in the Second Heligoland Bight

Heligoland Bight

The Heligoland Bight, also known as Helgoland Bight, is a bay which forms the southern part of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe river...

 Patrol along with , and . She and the other submarines returned from the patrol on 18 August 1914. Then on 30 June 1915, E7 began a 24-day patrol in the Sea of Marmara

Sea of Marmara

The Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as the Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Black...

. She succeeded in sinking 13 ships and damaging many more.

The German Submarine UB-14 was in port of Chanak

Çanakkale

Çanakkale is a town and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern coast of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 106,116 . The mayor is Ülgür Gökhan ....

 to await repairs. While there on 4 September, word came of the British submarine entangled in Turkish antisubmarine nets off Nagara Point. The U-Boat's commander, Oberleutnant zur See Heino von Heimburg

Heino von Heimburg

Heino von Heimburg was a German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I and served also as Vice Admiral in the Kriegsmarine during World War II.-World War I:...

, Prince Heinrich of Prussia

Prince Heinrich of Prussia

Prince Henry of Prussia was a younger brother of German Emperor William II and a Prince of Prussia...

, and UB-14s cook, a man by the name of Herzig, set out in a rowboat to observe the Turkish attempts to destroy E7. After several mines that formed part of the net had been detonated to no avail,The type of net in use had electric contact mines that were triggered from the shore. See: Stern: p. 29. von Heimburg and his group rowed out and repeatedly dropped a plumb line until it contacted metal. Then, von Heimburg dropped a Turkish sinker mine with a shortened fuse right on top of E7. After the hand-dropped mine detonated too close for the British submarine's captain's comfort, he ordered his boat surfaced, abandoned, and scuttled

Scuttling

Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...

. Between shellfire from the Turkish shore batteries and E7s scuttling charges, von Heimburg and company narrowly escaped harm. While most sources credit E7s sinking to the Turkish efforts, author Robert Stern contends that von Heimburg and UB-14 deserve partial credit for the demise of E7.