HMS A6

HMS A6 was an A-class submarine (1903) submarine built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.

Design and description
A6 was a member of the first British class of submarines, although slightly larger, faster and more heavily armed than the lead ship, HMS A1. The submarine had a length of 105 ft overall, a beam of 12 ft and a mean draft of 10 ft. They displaced 190 LT on the surface and 206 LT submerged. The A-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 9 ratings.

For surface running, the boats were powered by a single 16-cylinder 550 bhp Wolseley petrol engine that drove one propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a 150 hp electric motor. They could reach 11 kn on the surface and 7 kn underwater. On the surface, A6 had a range of 500 nmi at 10 kn; submerged the boat had a range of 30 nmi at 5 kn.

The boats were armed with two 18-inch (45 cm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They could carry a pair of reload torpedoes, but generally did not as doing so that they had to compensate for their weight by an equivalent weight of fuel.

Construction and career
A6 was ordered as part of the 1903–04 Naval Programme from at Vickers. She was laid down at the shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness on 1 September 1903, launched on 3 March 1904 and completed on 23 March 1905.

A6 ran aground on a sandbank in Sandown harbour on 31 July 1906, but received little damage.