"This free standing monument is set in the churchyard overlooking the River Orwell. It is surrounded by gravestones separated by seven Portland stone posts each with lion head reliefs. Further WWII gravestones have been added outside the wooden posts marking the memorial. Entrance is through the lych gate again facing towards the river. The mourning Mary faces the east end of the church. The cenotaph like column is framed by bronze dolphins at its foot with four bronze plaques on top. These show anchors within wreaths and Medieval and Viking ships. A Submarine is included on top of the plaque to lych gate. Ryan Tenison may have been chosen as architect since his cousin, Lieut. Julian Tenison R.N. and his crew are buried in the compound. The success of the monument led Ryan Tenison and Brook Hitch to be commissioned for the National Submarine Memorial of 1922 on the Victoria embankment, an extended version of the top of that at Shotley, where a view of the interior of a submarine in a roundel is surrounded by allegorical figures."
Inscription -
Plaque on lych gate: TO THE GLORY / OF GOD AND / IN MEMORY OF / THE OFFICERS AND MEN / OF THE 8TH AND 9TH / SUBMARINE FLOTILLAS / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES / FOR KING AND COUNTRY / DURING THE GREAT / WAR 1914 - 1919. / A GOOD LIFE HATH BUT A / FEW DAYS BUT A GOOD NAME / ENDURETH FOR EVER. / ECCLESIASTICUS XL1 13. Plinth: THERE IS BUT ONE / TASK FOR ALL / ONE LIFE FOR / EACH TO GIVE / WHO STANDS IF / FREEDOM FALL? / WHO DIES IF / ENGLAND LIVE? / 1914 1918 Top step of plinth: E30. E16. E34. E37. E4. / C16. E36. E50. E47. L10. Column, 3, 9 and 12 o'clock face: (NAMES) Plinth, 12 o'clock face: (NAMES)
Dedicated 26 June 1919 Attended by Bishop Hornby
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"HMS E30
Laid Down. 01/12/1914
Launched. 29/06/1915
Completed. 01/11/1915
Builder. Armstrong Whitworth
Build Group. E3
Length. 181 ft.
Diving Depth. 200 ft.
Speed. 15.25 Knots
Complement. 30
Fate. Mined 22/11/1916
E30 was built by Armstrong Whitworth, Newcastle upon Tyne. She was laid down on 29 June 1914 and was commissioned in November 1915. E30 was mined off Orfordness, Suffolk in the North Sea on 22 December 1916. There were no survivors.
HMS E16
Laid Down. 15/05/1913
Launched. 23/09/1914
Completed. 26/02/1915
Builder. Vickers
Build Group. E2
Length. 181 ft.
Diving Depth. 200 ft.
Speed. 15.25 Knots
Complement. 30
Fate. Mined 22/08/1916
E16 was built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness for the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 15 May 1913 and was commissioned on 27 February 1915. Her hull cost £105,700. E16 was the first E-class to sink a U-boat U-6 south-west of Karmøy island off Stavanger, Norway on 15 September 1915. E16 was last sighted thirty-five miles east of Yarmouth. E38 later observed a group of warships moving north, in the vicinity of Terschelling, Splashes were seen near to one of the warships which may have been depth charges exploding. E16 was sunk by a mine in Heligoland Bight on 22 August 1916. There were no survivors.
HMS E34
Laid Down. 1916
Launched. 27/01/1917
Completed. 01/03/1917
Builder. John Thornycroft
Build Group. E3
Length. 181 ft.
Diving Depth. 200 ft.
Speed. 15.25 Knots
Complement. 30
Fate. Mined 20/07/1918
E34 was built by John Thornycroft, Woolston, Hampshire. She was laid down on 21 January 1917 and was commissioned in March 1917. E34 sank the U-Boat UB-16 off Harwich in the North Sea on 10 May 1918. On the morning of 20th July 1918 E34 was mined near the Eijerlandse Gronden, the sands between the Frisian islands Texel and Vlieland. There were no survivors.
HMS E37
Launched. 02/09/1915
Completed. 17/03/1916
Builder. Fairfield
Build Group. E3
Length. 181 ft.
Diving Depth. 200 ft.
Speed. 15.25 Knots
Complement. 30
Fate. Mined 01/12/1916
E37 was built by Fairfield, Govan, Clyde and was launched on the 2nd of September 1915. All the E class submarines were withdrawn from service by 1922. E37 was lost in the North Sea on 1st December 1916. There were no survivors.
HMS E4
Laid Down. 16/05/1911
Launched. 05/12/1912
Completed. 04/01/1913
Builder. Vickers
Build Group. E1
Length 181 ft.
Diving Depth. 200 ft.
Speed. 15.25 Knots
Complement. 30
Fate. Scrapped 21/02/1922
E4 was built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness, costing £101,900. launched on 5 February 1912 and commissioned on 28 January 1913. Whilst carrying out anti-submarine exercises in the North Sea on the 15th August 1916, E41 acting as a target, had begun a surface passage of 12 knots when E4s periscope appeared 50 yards off her starboard bow, on a collision course. E41 stopped her engines but not before E4 collided forward of the bridge. E41 began to take in water through the forward battery Compartment and began to sink by the bow. There were no Survivors from E4. Both boats were raised, repaired and recommissioned. E4 was sold on 21 February 1922.
HMS C16
Laid Down. 14/12/1906
Launched. 19/03/1908
Completed. 05/06/1908
Builder. Vickers
Build Group. C
Length. 142 ft.
Diving Depth. 100 ft.
Speed.13 Knots
Complement. 16
Fate. Scrapped 1922
C16 was built by Armstrong Vickers and launched on the 19th March 1908. C16 was lost on the 16th April 1917 following a collision with the destroyer Hms Melampus off Harwich. her conning tower was badly damaged in the Collision and the lower hatch was leaking, after the submarine had Been raised it was found that the airline bringing hp air to the whistle was broken and the stopcock had been left open. The fifteen survivors gathered beneath the forward hatch wearing life jackets. they flooded up the interior of the sub and then tried to open the forward hatch. The hatch would not open fully and when it was dropped, a pug of lead attached to a fender swung under the Joint which held the lid open, the air lock was lost and the survivors drowned. C16 was sold for scrap and the officers and men were buried at Harwich.
HMS E36
Launched. 16/09/1916
Completed. 16/11/1916
Builder. John Brown
Build Group. E3
Length. 181 ft.
Diving Depth. 200 ft.
Speed. 15.25 Knots
Complement. 30
Fate. Lost 19/01/1917
E36 was built by John Brown, Clydebank and was launched on the 16th September 1916. E36 and E43 left Harwich at 0730 on 19th January 1917 for two patrol areas off Terschelling. A strong north easterly was blowing. At 1126 just before they left the coast, E43 signalled to E36 to proceed independently. At 1330 E36 was on the port beam but was out of sight by 1500. The sea was running fairly high and at 1850 E43, having lost her bridge screen, eased to 5 knots and turned 16 points to fit a new one. This delay must have enabled E36 to overtake her, for at 1950 off the Haaks LV, E43 had just altered course to true north when she suddenly sighted a submarine 3 points on the port bow apparently steering east and only 50 yards off. The helm was put hard to starboard and engines full astern but E43 struck E36 aft from the stern, rode right over her and saw her vanish on the starboard quarter in the darkness. E43 went astern but nothing could be seen in the darkness and heavy sea. Nothing more was heard of E36.
HMS E50
Laid Down. 01/03/1915
Launched. 13/11/1916
Completed. 23/01/1917
Builder. John Brown
Build Group. E3
Length. 181 ft.
Diving Depth. 200 ft.
Speed. 15.25 Knots
Complement. 30
Fate. Mined 01/02/1918
E50 was built by John Brown, Clydebank and launched on the 12th of November 1916. E50 was damaged in a collision while submerged on 19 March 1917 off the North Hinder Light Vessel with U-Boat UC-62. E50 was finally mined off the South Dogger Light Vessel on 31 January 1918.
HMS E47
Laid Down. 01/01/1915
Launched. 29/05/1916
Completed. 01/10/1916
Builder. Fairfield
Build Group. E3
Length. 181 ft.
Diving Depth. 200 ft.
Speed. 15.25 Knots
Complement. 30
Fate. Lost 20/08/1917
E47 was launched on the 29th of May 1916 by Fairfield, Govan for the Royal Navy and completed by William Beardmore, Dalmuir and was commissioned in October 1916. E47 was based at Harwich with the 9th Flotilla – depot ships Maidstone and Forth. She was engaged in North Sea patrols off the German and Dutch coasts. Following the resumption of German coastal shipping between Heligoland Bight and Rotterdam. E47 was lost in the North Sea on 20 August 1917. There were no survivors.
HMS C25
Laid Down. 27/02/1908
Launched. 10/03/1909
Completed. 28/05/1909
Builder. Vickers
Build Group. C
Length. 142 ft.
Diving Depth. 100 ft.
Speed. 13 Knots
Complement. 16
Fate. Scrapped 05/12/1921
C25 was Built by Vickers, Barrow. She was laid down on 27 February 1908 and was commissioned on 28 May 1909. C25 was machine-gunned and bombed by a squadron of five German Hansa-Brandenburg seaplanes based at Zeebrugge off Harwich on 6 July 1918, after being caught on the surface. Several rounds killed the commanding officer, Lieut. David C. Bell, and three lookouts on the conning tower. One of the bodies blocked the conning towers hatch so she was unable to dive. The first Lieutenant, Sub-Lieut. Ronald M. Cobb, and two engine room artificers cut off the leg of one of the bodies with a hacksaw to free the hatch. Another two crew members died while trying to close the hatch. The holes in the pressure hull were plugged by clothes and luckily E51 was able to tow C25. The seaplanes, led by Oblt.d.R. Friedrich Christiansen, returned re-armed and ready to attack again, but they were driven off by the arrival of the Acheron class destroyer, HMS Lurcher. C25 was sold on 5 December 1921
HMS E45
Launched. 25/01/1916
Completed. 01/08/1916
Builder. Cammell Laird
Build Group. E3
Length. 181 ft.
Diving Depth. 200 ft.
Speed. 15.25 Knots
Complement. 30
Fate. Scrapped 06/09/1922
E45 was built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead and launched on the 25th of January 1916. E45 torpedoed U-Boat UC-62 in the North Sea on 15 October 1917, and was sold on 6 September 1922."
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HMS L10 - Wikipedia link (
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HMS Maidstone was a depot ship launched in 1912 and sold in 1929. It served the 8th submarine flotilla in WWI