Themes

The Navy at Home and Abroad

• Shore Establishments

• Humanitarian Relief

• Flying the Flag

• Letters Home

  • Staying in Touch

  • Delivering Letters

  • Censorship

  • As Historical Sources

  • Albert Farley 1915

  • Algernon Foster 1939 - 41

  • D. Arnold-Forster 1901

  • George Estcourt 1932

• Prisoners of War

Learning

• How to: Understand a Uniform

D. Arnold-Forster 1901

Article Highlights

• Introduction

• Reservations about joining the submarine service

• The Holland 1 team

• The underwater trials

• The death of a crew member

• Arnold-Forster's progression in the Navy

The underwater trials

On the 13 May 1902 Arnold-Forster helped to tow Holland 1 to Morecombe Bay where the water was deeper. On arrival he laid out four buoys ready for the underwater run where the boat dived to a depth of 10 feet. Arnold-Forster wrote in a letter home:

‘We came up close to the last buoy and were afraid we had cut it in half...On the run back I worked the diving wheel for the first time and kept her at about 10 feet for two miles.’

He found it hard to keep the submarine steady and by the end of the test the vessel was at such a steep angle that a bucket slid down the deck.

Letter written by Arnold-Forster dated April 6th 1902 (RNSM)

Read more from Arnold-Forster's letter

To find out about the death of a crew member, select Next

Related External Links

• Submarine Heritage - Holland 1

• Royal Navy Submarine Museum - Holland 1