AUSTRALIAN SUBMARINE REPORTED MISSING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15719, 21 September 1914, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN SUBMARINE REPORTED MISSING.

ACCIDENT THOUGHT TO HAVE BEFALLEN THE VESSEL

THIRTY-FIVE OFFICERS AND MliN ABOARD.

TWO NEW ZEALANDERS AMONG THE CREW.

Sydnky, September 19.

Admiral Sir George Patey has sent a wireless message to Senator Pearce, Commonwealth Minister for Defence, stating that Submarine AEI is missing. She was last seen on the afternoon of September 14 returning from a patrol. No enemy craft was ii the vicinity.

Though a search did not disclose any wreckage, it is supposed that thn disappearance was due to accident. Thorn were 35 officers and mrn on board.

Tho following are the names of the officers; and men aboard: — Lieutenant-Commander E. F. Besant, Lieutenant L. Scarlet, PettyOfficers Smail, Hodge, Tripe, Guilbert, Stretch, Maloney, Wright, nnd Waddylovo; Seamen Corbould, Reardon, Woodland, Farman, Thomas, Fisher, Dennis, and Hodkina; Sigralman Danes; Telegraphist Baker; Artificers Lowe, Marshland, Wilson, Fitte, and Messenger; and Stokers Barton, Meek, Guy, Wilson, Bray, Blake, Holt, Guild, and Gough.

Seamen Reardon and Woodland were both Ivew Zealanders.

Senator Pearce has issued a statement, in which he deplores tho submarine disaster. He adds: "The only gleam of consolation is that the loss was not due to the action of the enemy, but the officers and men have just as truly given their serviceu to the Empire as if they had been killed in action.

VOYAGE FROM ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA

Tho AEI was of 800 tons displacement and 1750 h.f., and had four torpedo tubes. She was a. sister ship to the AE2, the other sub.narine of the Australian Fleet. The two submarines were built in England, and made the voyage to Australia under their own power, arriving in May of this year. After their arrival they were fitted with wireless apparatus. The crews were mainly Australians who were sent to England for instruction.

The submarine is liable to accidents of various kinds, as the records of the British Navy show. On February 2, 1913, the A3 collided with the parent ship Halyard off the Isle of Wight, and sank immediately, the four lieutenants and 10 men on board being drowned. Tho wreck was salved and taken to Portsmouth. Submarine B2 was run down by the Atlantic liner Amerika off Dover on October 4, only one officer of the total crew of 15 being saved. Entire blame was recognised by the owners of the Amerika. The salvage of the submarine was eventually abandoned. On January 16 last the A.7, owing to some unexplained cause, sank off Plymouth, and every effort to raise her proved unsuccessful, largely because the stern had bored its way into the bottom of the sea. Ultimately the project of salving tho vessel was abandoned.

LOSSES DURING PERIOD OF THREE YEARS.

The British Admiralty was criticised at the time of the loss, and it was urged that the A class had become obsolete, and ought no longer to be sent to pea. The First Lord of the Admiralty, in the House of Commons, stated that there was no reason to suppose that the A class submarines were not safe and efficient vessels for the purposes on which they were employed. Mr. Churchill also stated that during the past three years only nine officers and 37 men had been lost in all submarine accidents collisions—notwithstanding the great risks involved.

A specially-designed vessel for salvaging submarines has now been completed by Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., for the British Admiralty. She can lift a submarine from very considerable depths.