HMS E42


HMS E42 was a British E-class submarine built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She was laid down on 23 October 1915 and commissioned in July 1916. She served during the First World War, hitting with a torpedo the battlecruiser on 25 April 1918 and making an unsuccessful attack on U-92 on 1 July 1918.
E42 was sold for scrap at Poole on 6 September 1922.

Design

Like all post-E8 British E-class submarines, E42 had a displacement of at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of and a beam length of. She was powered by two Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two electric motors. The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of. British E-class submarines had fuel capacities of of diesel and ranges of when travelling at. E42 was capable of operating submerged for five hours when travelling at.
E42 was armed with a 12-pounder QF gun mounted forward of the conning tower. She had five 18-inch 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 power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to systems by removing a midship torpedo tube. Their maximum design depth was although in service some reached depths of below. Some submarines contained Fessenden oscillator systems.