RN Submarines: X Class 1923

Submarines of the fleet
Brian James
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RN Submarines: X Class 1923

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The newly commissioned HMS X-1 pictured as she departs Chatham Dockyard in Kent on September 12th 1925.
HM Submarine X1 was conceived and designed as a submersible commerce raider; at the time of her launching she was the largest Submarine in the world. For Britain, the idea of a Submarine Cruiser had been proposed as early as 1915, but the type was not put into practice until 1921. X1, which was based on the uncompleted German U-173 Class of 2,000-ton "U-cruisers", was laid down on November 2nd 1921 at the Naval Dockyard Chatham and completed on September 23rd 1925.
The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, of which Britain was a signatory, did not ban Submarines but it did ban their use against Merchant Ships, which was X1's unacknowledged purpose; its armament (2 × 5.25 inch guns) had been designed to successfully engage the classes of vessels likely to be escorting convoys, such as Destroyers and Frigates. Therefore, a certain amount of secrecy surrounded X1, the government even going to the lengths of taking a national newspaper to court over its pictures of the new Submarine following her launch, all copies of the paper being seized.
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