HMS E49

HMS E49 was an E-class submarine built by Swan Hunter, Wallsend for the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 15 February 1915 and was commissioned on 14 December 1916. E49 was mined off the Shetland Islands on 12 March 1917. The minefield was laid by the German U-boat SM UC-76 on 10 March 1917. There were no survivors. E49 lies 96 ft down with her bows blown off.

Design
Like all post-E8 British E-class submarines, E49 had a displacement of 662 LT at the surface and 807 LT while submerged. She had a total length of 180 ft and a beam of 22 ft. She was powered by two 800 hp Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two 420 hp electric motors. The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 16 kn and a submerged speed of 10 kn. British E-class submarines had fuel capacities of 50 LT of diesel and ranges of 3255 mi when travelling at 10 kn. E49 was capable of operating submerged for five hours when travelling at 5 kn.

E49 was armed with a 12-pounder 76 mm QF gun mounted forward of the conning tower. She had five 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, two in the bow, one either side amidships, and one in the stern; a total of 10 torpedoes were carried.

E-Class submarines had wireless systems with 1 kW power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to 3 kW systems by removing a midship torpedo tube. Their maximum design depth was 100 ft although in service some reached depths of below 200 ft. Some submarines contained Fessenden oscillator systems.

Memorial
A memorial to the 31 submariners lost in the sinking of E49 was unveiled in Baltasound, Unst, on 12 March 2017. The memorial was organised by retired local police constable Harry Edwards. The unveiling was attended by members of the crew of Royal Navy submarine HMS Vengeance (S31) and descendants of E49 First officer Basil Beal and second-in-command Reay Parkinson.