HMS E15
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HMS E15 was an E-class submarine of the Royal Navy, commissioned in 1914. During World War I, E15 served in the Mediterranean, participating in the Dardanelles Campaign against the Ottoman Empire.
On April 16, 1915, under the command of Lieutenant Commander T.S. Brodie, E15 left Mudros and attempted to break through the Dardanelles to the Sea of Marmara. Early in the morning of April 17, the submarine, having dived too deep and become caught in a current, ran aground some ten miles in, near Kepez Point and directly under the guns of one of the defensive batteries. Fired on and disabled, Brodie was killed in the conning tower and six of the crew were killed by chlorine gas released when the submarine's batteries were exposed to seawater by a shell strike.
HMS_E15_wreck.jpg
Several attempts were made to destroy E15. First, British submarine B6, with Brodie's brother on board, tried to sink her by torpedo but missed. Later, during the night, destroyers Grampus and Scorpion (commanded by the future Admiral A.B. Cunningham of World War II Mediterranean Fleet fame), attempted to find her, but failed. The next morning, British submarine B11 also failed to locate the beached E15 due to dense fog. Then the battleships Triumph and Majestic fired on E15 from long range and missed. Meanwhile, seaplanes carried out their own failed attempts to bomb the stricken submarine.
Finally, on the night of the April 18, one 16 metre picket boat each from Triumph and Majestic, both armed with two 14-inch torpedoes, went in. Lieutenant Commander Eric Robinson in Triumph's boat commanded the expedition; Lieutenant Godwin commanded Majestic's. Approaching E15, Majestic's boat was stuck by gunfire, but managed to hit and destroy E15 before sinking. Robinson rescued the crew and reached safety in Triumph's boat. This and other exploits in the Dardanelles earned Robinson the Victoria Cross.