HMS R12

HMS R12 was one of 10 R-class submarines built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. The boat was not completed before the end of the war and was sold for scrap in 1923.

Design and description
The R-class submarine was designed to meet an Admiralty requirement for a specialised hunter-killer submarine with an emphasis on submerged performance. The boats had a length of 163 ft overall, a beam of 15 ft and a mean draft of 11 ft. They displaced 410 LT on the surface and 503 LT submerged. The R-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 20 ratings. They had a diving depth of 150 ft.

For surface running, the boats were powered by a single eight-cylinder 240 bhp diesel engine that drove the single propeller shaft. When submerged it was driven by a 1200 hp electric motor. They could reach 9.5 kn on the surface and 15 kn underwater. On the surface, the R class had a range of 2400 nmi at 9 kn and 60 nmi at 5 kn submerged.

The boats were armed with six 18-inch (45 cm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried six reload torpedoes for a grand total of a dozen torpedoes. They were equipped with an array of five hydrophones in the bow to allow them to locate and engage targets while submerged.

Construction and career
HMS R12 was laid down on 1 December 1917 by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, launched on 9 April 1918 and commissioned on 29 October 1919. She came too late to see any combat in World War I, like most of the other R class submarines. R12 was paid off in December 1919, and sold on 21 February 1923 to J. Smith.