HMS A2
Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMS A2 was an Template:Sclass2 submarine built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.
Design and description
A2 was a member of the first British class of submarines, although slightly larger, faster and more heavily armed than the lead ship, Template:HMS. The submarine had a length of Template:Convert overall, a beam of Template:Convert and a mean draft of Template:Convert. They displaced Template:Convert on the surface and Template:Convert submerged. The A-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 9 ratings.<ref name=gg9>Gardiner & Gray, p. 86</ref>
For surface running, the boats were powered by a single 16-cylinder Template:Convert Wolseley petrol engine that drove one propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a Template:Convert electric motor. They could reach Template:Convert on the surface and Template:Convert underwater. On the surface, A2 had a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert;<ref name=gg9/> submerged the boat had a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert.<ref>Akermann, p. 120</ref>
The boats were armed with two 18-inch (45 cm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They could carry a pair of reload torpedoes, but generally did not as in doing so they had to compensate for their weight by an equivalent weight of fuel.<ref>Harrison, Chapter 27</ref>
Construction and career
Like all boats in her class, she was built at Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness.<ref name=gg9/> Construction started in 1902 and the submarine was launched on 15 April 1903 and completed on 26 March 1904.<ref>Harrison, Appendix 1</ref> During World War I, A2 served on harbour service at Portsmouth.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She flooded after running aground in Bomb Ketch Lake in Portsmouth Harbour in January 1920 and was sold for scrap to H. G. Pound of Portsmouth on 22 October 1925.