The Royal Navy’s ‘Holland’ class was very similar to the US Navy’s ‘Adder’ class. Holland No.1 sank in 1913, but after raising resides in the Submarine Museum, Gosport.

HOLLAND No. 7
Length: 16.3m (53.47ft)
Diameter: 3.1m (10.17ft)
Propulsion: one-shaft gasoline
Speed: 8kn./7kn. (surfaced/submerged)
Armament: one 45cm (18in)
torpedo tube
Crew: 12

A group of Irish-Americans on the other side of the Atlantic were embarking on an enterprise which would ultimately make history. The Fenian United Brotherhood hatched secret plans for a ‘Salt Water Enterprise’, a submarine boat capable of striking what was hoped would be a mortal blow to British maritime power. The Brotherhood’s ‘Skirmishing Fund’ first invested in a 6.8m (22.3ft) submersible designed by an unknown Irish-American inventor called John P. Holland. His prototype (designated by historians Holland I) was a modest success, although his farsighted faith in the petrol-driven internal combustion engine proved premature, and the petrol engine was converted to steam. Heartened by this success the controllers of the ‘Skirmishing Fund’ provided $20,000 to build the so-called Fenian Ram (a name bestowed by the press, and chronologically known as Holland II). The boat was ordered in secret from the Delamater Ironworks in New York. After many squabbles work began in May 1879, but the 14.6m (48ft) boat was not launched until May 1881. It was driven by a Brayford two-cylinder double-acting petrol engine, a great improvement in power : weight ratio, and was armed with a pneumatic gun forward, firing at an upward angle.

The new submarine’s existence was a poorly kept secret and many foreign visitors were shown around, although Holland refused to allow journalists to examine the interior. The Fenian Ram performed well, proving robust and reasonably safe. Unfortunately, internal dissent led some of the leading Fenians to seize the submarine to try to carry out a pre-emptive attack on the British, but they ran the little submarine ashore. She was salvaged but never went to sea again; in 1916 she was exhibited to raise funds for Irish independence and was later preserved as a memorial. Renovation has started recently.

John Holland’s zeal for the Fenian cause waned after the failure of the midget Fenian Model of 1883 (Holland III), and henceforward he was to devote his energy to selling his designs. Brief but unhappy dealings with Captain Edward Zalinski resulted in a wooden-hulled boat armed with Zalinski’s Dynamite Gun (Holland IV). Badly damaged at her launch in 1885, she soon passed into obscurity.

The US Navy had never totally lost interest in submarines, and had issued requests for bids to build experimental boats in 1888 and again in 1889. Holland’s design won against rival proposals, but at the first request the shipyard selected refused to guarantee performance, and a year later the cash-starved navy was forced to divert funds elsewhere.

A third competition held in 1893 was won by Holland again, and funds finally became available two years later. In 1895 the Navy Department awarded a $150,000 contract to the John P Holland Torpedo Boat Company, which was subcontracted to the Columbian Iron Works in Baltimore the following year. Launched as the Plunger (chronologically Holland V) in 1897, the new boat ought to have been the final vindication of Holland’s persistence, but the navy had set wildly unrealistic performance targets. To combine a surface speed of 15 knots with an armament of two torpedo tubes in a 40m (131.2ft) hull, Holland was forced to adopt triple-screw steam propulsion as well as electric drive. During basin trials in 1898 the steam plant created a temperature of 137°F at only two-thirds power. Clearly this turkey would never fly, and Holland washed his hands of the project, refunding the $93,000 advanced by the Navy Department. It was, however, only a pawn in a bigger game and Holland’s political friends were able to persuade the navy to reallocate the money to a smaller private venture to be built by the Crescent Shipyard at Elizabethport, New Jersey. This was the Holland (Holland VI), displacing 65 tonnes (64 tons), just under 25.4m (83.3ft) in length, and driven by a gasoline engine and electric motor. Her trials were a great success, and the navy agreed to buy her at the same price it had been willing to pay for the Plunger.

Although the American press praised the little Holland as a ‘Monster War Fish’ and other lurid titles, she was a very primitive craft. She had a submerged range of about 74km (40 miles) at a very nominal five knots, and a diving depth of no more than 25m (82.02ft), but had no periscope and so was virtually blind underwater. On the surface her 45hp Otto engine gave her a theoretical endurance of 2778km (1500 miles), but with no accommodation for the crew she could barely manage a few hours at sea. The US Navy was sufficiently impressed, however, to order six more of a slightly enlarged design in 1900, the ‘Adder’ or ‘A’ class.

Holland’s only serious competitor was a fellow American, Simon Lake. His Argonaut Junior was a wooden-hulled prototype built in 1894 as a private venture. The Argonaut First, 17m (55.8ft) long and displacing 60 tonnes (59 tons), was built alongside the Plunger and launched in August 1897. She proved successful, and had several features which would later prove to be sound. These included a double hull and a more effective means of maintaining a level trim than the Holland boats. However, Lake had a poor appreciation of the warlike possibilities of submarines and was more interested in running on the seabed to assist salvage divers and to recover objects. He did include a torpedo tube in his next boat, the Protector (1902), but retained the concept of wheels for running on the seabed to allow divers to cut submarine cables in time of war. Although the Protector was bought by the Imperial Russian Navy in 1911, Lake’s emphasis on these features irked the US Navy to the point that he was soon left behind by Holland, who gave the navy what it asked for. With hindsight it is obvious that the ideal solution would have been a collaboration between the two brilliant designers, for Lake had much to contribute.

The sudden proliferation of submarines alarmed the Royal Navy, which decided that it ought to investigate the new technology, but not in such a way as to alarm the public. As early as February 1899 the First Lord of the Admiralty was ‘not at present prepared to make a statement’ in reply to parliamentary questions about the French developments. Another question in the House of Commons a year later was answered by an attempt at lofty disdain: ‘Submarines are a weapon for Maritime Powers on the defensive’, and in any case, the Admiralty ‘knew all about them’. The debate was not helped by a speech made by Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson VC, who denounced submarines as ‘underhand, unfair and damned un-English’ and recommended that in wartime submarine crews should be hanged as pirates.

That irascible comment has been quoted out of context to suggest that the Admiralty had closed its mind on the subject of submarines, but in fact an internal study had already begun. The Director of Naval Construction pointed out correctly that his department had no expertise in the field, and recommended the purchase of a Holland design from the Electric Boat Company (successor to the Holland Torpedo Boat Co). A contract was signed in December 1900 to allow Messrs Vickers Sons & Maxim to build five submarines at Barrow-in- Furness. The specifications differed little from the US Navy’s ‘Adder’ class: a maximum surface speed of eight knots (seven knots in moderate weather), a 463km (250 mile) radius at full speed, seven knots submerged and a 46.3km (25 mile) radius (three and a half hours). Submerged endurance was to be 15 miles, and maximum diving depth was set at 47m (154.1ft). But these figures proved optimistic: at full power the batteries only lasted for one hour and the maximum recorded depth was 37m (20 fathoms). Nevertheless, the Royal Navy took these problems in its stride. They were simply numbered Submarines 1-5, but were always known as Holland No. 1 etc.

Acquiring the Hollands was a bold stroke, for it avoided considerable risk, and as soon as HM Submarine No.l was launched on 2 October 1901 the Submarine Service became a reality, with a ready supply of volunteers. Fort Blockhouse at Portsmouth was to be the base (later to become HMS Dolphin). An ‘A’ class of 13 boats was ordered in 1901, using Vickers’ expertise to eliminate reliance on US patents. They were followed by the 10 ‘B’ class in 1903, giving the Royal Navy a comfortable margin of 28 submarines.