HMS C10 was one of 38 C-class submarines built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. The boat survived the First World War and was sold for scrap in 1922.

Design and description

The C class was essentially a repeat of the preceding B class, albeit with better performance underwater. The submarine had a length of 142 ft overall, a beam of 13 ft and a mean draft of 11 ft. They displaced 287 LT on the surface and 316 LT submerged. The C-class submarines had a crew of two officers and fourteen ratings. For surface running, the boats were powered by a single 16-cylinder 600 bhp Vickers petrol engine that drove one propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a 300 hp electric motor. They could reach 12 kn on the surface and 7 kn underwater. On the surface, the C class had a range of 910 nmi at 12 kn. 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 they would have to remove an equal weight of fuel in compensation.

Construction and career

C10 was laid down on 30 January 1906 by Vickers at their Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, launched on 15 March 1907, and completed on 13 July. During World War I, the boat was generally used for coastal defence and training in home waters. C10 was part of the 6th Submarine Flotilla, based on the Humber, but on 8 September 1914, the six submarines of the flotilla were sent to Queensferry in the Firth of Forth to search for and attack German submarines that had been active in the area. On 17 September, after the British battlecruiser force had left the Forth for Scapa Flow, the 6th Flotilla was ordered to Cromaty to defend the approaches to Cromaty and Scapa Flow. On 3 May 1917, C10 was fired on by the British destroyers HMS Ouse and HMS Bat off Blyth, Northumberland. Although one man was killed and a second was wounded, the submarine survived. C10 was sold for scrap in July 1922.