HMS Sickle

Are you sure that picture is the right class of submarine?  I’m pretty sure HMS Sickle was an S class, whereas the one in the picture looks more like an L class…

Yes, the image is of L9, a L class submarine. British L class submarine were originally planned under the emergency war programme as an improved version of the British E class submarine. The scale of change allowed the L class to become a separate class. The L class served throughout the 1920s and the majority were scrapped in the 1930s but three remained operational as training boats during World War II. The last 3 were scrapped in 1946 after long distinguished service. L9 predated the Sickle and was sold to Hong Kong on the 30th June 1927. So the image is also anachronistic.

That’s what I thought.

:o You two are not being “anoraks” are you?

But - and I know I am going to regret this - how do you know if it is an S Class or an L class? Silly question I am sure! Perhaps Judith should get Mick to answer this one!

Both the L and C class have a similar displacement (L Class: 890 tons surfaced, 1074 tons submerged, C Class: 640 tons surfaced, 935 tons submerged) so the easiest way to identify them, like most submarines, is through the shame of their conning tower. The S class tower is far more square in appearence with its distinctive twin masts. Oh, and I think Gareth’s source of information is Mick, whilst mine is Wikipedia.

Actually, my information came from Wikipedia too.  I guessed it was an L class because it was called L9 - it turns out that to begin with each class was given a number, and then each boat was simply numbered.  Later, they were given names which began with the letter of the class.  The first two groups of S class boats were named after sea creatures. By the third group (which contained more boats as a result of the outbreak of WWII) they presumably ran out of fish beginning with S, and so other names were used (such as Stonehenge, Splendid, Strategem and, of course, Sickle).

And the 1931 S class is, of course, not to be confused with the 1914 S-class which were modelled on Italian Laurenti boats.  I guess that may be what started the trend of naming (rather than number) submarines - there was already an S1, so the new S1 was renamed HMS Swordfish.  That’s just a guess though…

Actually, I’ve just realised (ie spotted on Wikipedia) that they were already naming submarines by the O-class (which were, of course, commissioned to replace the ageing L-class).

It looks like I shall have to look it up on Wiki myself. There seems to be a lot more to this than I thought. Thanks for the info lads!