The K Class Submarines - aka the Kalamity Class and the Suicide Club

During World War I, it was decided to build submarines which were fast enough to keep pace with surface ships. Equipped with steam turbines to produce sufficient power, they were as large as modern nuclear submarines. The engines were a success, but the submarines were an ill-conceived concept in other regards. Geoff Horseman will describe incidents which led to these vessels becoming known as the "Kalamity Class" and an appointment as a crew member became known as joining "the Suicide Club". Among these was a tragic event which was undisclosed for over 30 years and is not well known today. In the so-called ‘Battle of May Island’, Royal Navy ships and submarines collided at night in the Firth of Forth early in 1918, with great loss of life. In all, more than 200 men died while serving onboard the K class. This lecture will tell the story of the K Class looking at some of the design issues with the submarines, recalling lessons learned which should not be forgotten and remembering the many men who perished due to those mistakes.

Geoff Horseman joined NEI Parsons Ltd. in 1980 as a graduate trainee engineer. In 1982, he became a Design Engineer in the Steam Turbine Design Department, subsequently rising to Head of Turbine Design in 1991. Following this, in 1994, he was appointed Head of Turbine-Generator Engineering at Parsons. In 1997, Parsons became part of Siemens Power Generation with Westinghouse following in 1998. This led to Siemens Large Steam Turbine Engineering in Europe being focused primarily at two sites: Mülheim-an-der-Ruhr in Germany; and, CA Parsons Works in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Geoff was appointed Chief Turbine Engineer for the Newcastle site and a Principal Expert on Steam Turbines within Siemens globally. He continued in these roles until his retirement in 2019. Since retirement, Geoff has been working full time on documenting the Parsons history while original records still exist for preservation in museums. It was during this work that he discovered the story of the K Class submarines which he will describe in this lecture.

17:30-18:00 - Tea and Coffee

18:00-18:50 - In-person only Lecture Starts

18:50 to 19:00 - Q & A

Welcome to our NEIMME Lecture. NEIMME is the Royal Chartered membership organisation for Engineering, Science and Technology in the North.
For more information about our events and the benefits of NEIMME membership see: https://mininginstitute.org.uk/membership/
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