HMS A6
Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsHMS A6 was an Template:Sclass2 submarine built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.
Design and description
A6 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.<ref name=gg9/> On the surface, A6 had a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert; submerged the boat had a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert.<ref name=a0>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 doing so that they had to compensate for their weight by an equivalent weight of fuel.<ref>Harrison, Chapter 27</ref>
Construction and career
A6 was ordered as part of the 1903–04 Naval Programme from at Vickers.<ref>Harrison, Chapter 3</ref> She was laid down at the shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness on 1 September 1903, launched on 3 March 1904 and completed on 23 March 1905.<ref name=a0/>
A6 ran aground on a sandbank in Sandown harbour on 31 July 1906, but received little damage.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>