HMS C18


HMS C18 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 1921.

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 overall, a beam of and a mean draft of. They displaced on the surface and 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 Vickers petrol engine that drove one propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the C class had a range of at.
The boats were armed with two 18-inch 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

C18 was laid down on 11 March 1907 by Vickers at their Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, launched on 10 October 1908, and completed on 23 July 1909. During World War I, the boat was generally used for coastal defence and training in home waters. HMS C18 was sold for scrap on 26 May 1921 in Sunderland.