HMS Artemis next to HMS Ocelot

The date 1 July 1971 was the Royal Navy Submarine Service's 'red face' day, because an A class submarine, HMS Artemis, sank while moored at Haslar Creek at Gosport, Hampshire. It was a particular embarrassment because Gosport is the Submarine Service's home.

There can have been no worse place for human error to have led to the sinking of a Royal Navy submarine while alongside. However, there were two fortunate outcomes. The first was that no lives were lost. The second was that the lessons learnt led to a complete revision of procedures, which reverberated through the Submarine Service and hold good to this day.

The A class submarines came in too late for use in the Second World War. They were long-range patrol submarines, the need for which had become clear as the war in the Pacific developed. They were bigger, faster and had greater range than the T class submarines with which Britain was equipped throughout the war. The A class submarines were operational until the 1970s and were the most efficient of the submarines built before the coming of nuclear submarines. They had a more advanced design with an air-conditioning system, an air warning radar, a high flared bow that made them faster on the surface, and ten 21-inch torpedo tubes.

Forty-six A class submarines were originally ordered in 1943. The first, HMS Amphion, was launched in August 1944. Only two of the class were completed before hostilities ceased, but neither were required to be involved in action. When the war ended the original order was considerably reduced.

They were quite big vessels, weighing about 1360 tons and 280 feet long. In the post-war years they were modified, extending their life, but from the mid 1960s they began to be scrapped and the last vessel was HMS Andrew, the last submarine designed during the Second World War still at sea.

At the time of the sinking in 1971, HMS Artemis was in Gosport for maintenance and was being made ready to leave again. She had been brought out of dock but most of the senior officers were not aboard and she was under the command of the sonar operator. When she was alongside and taking in fuel they had run cables through the hatches into the engine-room to power her systems, and as she was ballasted down to take the fuel for her diesel engines, water came in through the hatchways which because of the cables were not closed. Very quickly the vessel began to sink. The Duty Petty Officer David Guest went below to shut down whatever parts of the ship he could. There was a group of Sea Cadets aboard and Guest quickly cleared them out and went on making sure there was no one else there. He found two engine-room mechanics aboard but because of the water coming all three were unable to get out and they shut themselves into the forward compartment in the torpedo stowage area. The ship sank to the bottom of Haslar Creek. The three men were trapped on board the sunken submarine for 13 hours but eventually managed to escape in immersion suits through the forward escape tower.

The whole episode was a shambles and bad for the Submarine Service's reputation. There was a court of inquiry and blame laid where it was deserved but a report, 'HMS Artemis - The Lessons Learnt', was produced and is still required reading for submarine commanders. Artemis was eventually raised by salvage vessels but the salt water had done its damage and in view of her age she was sold for scrap in 1972.