Project 9: Engineering Drawings
A search for engineering drawings of the first Royal Navy A class submarines located general internal plans for A1, for the second batch A2-A4 and for the unique A13 with its diesel engine in the archives of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. No plans showing the external features of this class have been located in any of the archives consulted and no plans at all were found for the third batch (A5-A12) which includes A7.
External general arrangement drawing for A7 as she was in 1914 created by the A7 Project
Click here to download a high resolution copy of the drawing shown above.
A set of external general arrangement engineering drawings for the A7 have now been completed by the A7 Project team using a combination of all of the information available to the project.
External general arrangement drawing for A7 as she was in 1914 created by the A7 Project
Click here to download a high resolution copy of the drawing shown above.
The plans show the external view of the visible hull only so does not include any part of the hull currently buried in the seabed or any of the internal fittings. One set of plans shows the submarine as it was at the time of loss and a second set show the submarine as it is today.
External general arrangement drawing for A7 as she was in 1914 created by the A7 Project
One of the possible reasons why the original external arrangement drawings have not been located is that the Admiralty did not wish to publish them even at the time the boats were to be sold when the submarines were considered obsolete. When the sale of the A class submarines was being considered it was noted that one of the ‘most desirable matters to be kept secret is her exact external form as this governs speeds on the surface and submerged and her behaviour in diving’. The Holland boats were not considered in the same way as they were based on an American design and A1 was not included as she ‘is not a form which anyone would be well advised in copying’. The Director of Naval Construction stated in a memo that ‘The remaining boats (A2-A13) are Admiralty designs, and it may be desirable, if they are sold, to take some security from the purchaser that the lines shall not be taken off’.
The plans may be of use for making scale models or for creating illustrations of HM Submarine A7 or her sister boats A5 to A12.
