HMAS AE-1
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The
Australian submarine AE-1 was the first of two E class
light submarines built in England for the Australian navy
and launched 22.May 1913. After only seven months in
service she disappeared under a patrol north of Australia,
and despite attempts to locate the submarine her fate
remained a mystery. In December 2017 the wreck was found,
and in March the year after the wreck was filmed on approx
300 meter north of Duke of York Islands. Also see her
sistership HMAS
AE-2.
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 Picture: Last known photo of HMAS AE-1 Courtesy of the Royal Australian Navy Navy.gov.au  "Australia’s first
submarines, the AE1 and the AE2 , were launched in 1913
and were manned by composite Australian and British
crews. At the outbreak of the First World War, the AE1
and the AE2 were sent from Sydney to German New Guinea
with the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary
Force and helped to capture the German colony. On 14
September, a day after the official German surrender of
the colony, the AE1, commanded by Lieutenant Commander
Thomas Besant, left Rabaul harbour to patrol Cape
Gazelle, and never returned. The AE2, commanded by
Lieutenant Commander H. S. Stoker, achieved fame for its
operations in the Dardanelles. The AE2 was ordered to
sail through the Dardanelles, and disrupt Turkish
shipping in the Sea of Marmora. No other submarine had
yet managed to breach the Turkish defences, but in the
early hours of 25 April 1915, the AE2 got past
minefields and land-based guns, and after torpedoing a
Turkish destroyer, it reached the Sea of Marmora. The
AE2 remained at large for five more days before
sustaining irreparable damage while under heavy fire.
Stoker was forced to sink the submarine and surrender"
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