Thiaria

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Thiarian Submarines 1908 through 1918

The Thiarian Navy was very slow to take up submarine design. They considered anything that might divert funds away from battleship construction as a threat to national security and maintained as late as 1905 that submarines were totally useless and had no future as a weapon system. Only in 1908, the political leadership ordered the first two submarines; as the established naval powers considered submarine technology as top secet at that time and would not permit any exports, both were ordered at a newly established state-run specialized submarine yard, the CFC (Cath-Fomhuireanchearta) at An Trionaid which had been built between 1905 and 1908. The boats were small 220-tonners sporting many typically french features, like the tiny CTs and the lack of internal torpedo tubes, with four 450mm fish carried in external Drzewiecki-type drop-collars. They were experimental in many ways and sorely lacked reliability; their petrol engines in particular were a constant lethal danger to their crews. They were never used operationally, but enabled the Thiarians to collect valuable experience; unfortunately, the poor performance of their engines led them to the conclusion that steam turbines were a better option for submarine propulsion. The names of these boats mean Malevolence and Ambush, respectively.

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The follow-on class was - unlike the purely experimental first two boats - designed to be used in combat. They were slightly larger at 270 tons, had twice as many torpedo drop-collars and used imported Koerting diesels from Germany for propulsion. Like their predecessors, they were unreliable and poor performers in most respects, being slow to move (9 knots above water and 5 below), even slower to dive (three minutes) and very short ranged. During the war, they were - wisely - used for training only. They were named for magic weapons from ancient Irish mythology.

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After their efforts to produce usable submarines domestically had not yielded much, the Thiarian government finally persuaded the French to deliver something really workable to them and ordered two boats at Schneider's in 1912. They were quintessentially french designs with double hulls, steam turbine propulsion, eight torpedoes carried externally and none inside the hull and very small CTs. They shared all good and bad characteristics of contemporary french submarines, particularly the high surface speed (17 knots), the good reliability, the sturdiness of the hull providing for good damage resistance and an - by the standards of the time - impressive operational maximum depth of 80 meters - and the extremely long diving time of over ten minutes, the short range and the indifferent underwater stability. Nevertheless, they were much better than what the Thiarians had designed themselves, so they ordered ten more to be license-produced at An Trionaid (8) and the Boldisaire-yard, Thiaria's first private yard to engage in submarine construction. All twelve were in active service during the war, although the last four appeared only in 1918 and saw not much action. Due to a fundamentally faulty doctrine that used submarines to serve as fleet scouts rather than sending them after merchants, they achieved very little; LT Foghlai was the only one to sink a major enemy warship, the old protected cruiser HMS Rainbow in 1917. They did however perform their scouting mission successfully at the battle of Craigmiadh, where four of the class were present and managed to sneak up to and shadow three of the four squadrons of the allied fleet, enabling the Thiarians to engage them in sequence rather than all at once. Seven of the class were lost during the war; ominously, three of them fell victim to accidents (two diving accidents and one was rammed by a merchantman). The others were surrendered to Great Britain in 1919. Their names mean - in the sequence on the drawing: Marauder, Insurgent, Rogue, Reaver, Privateer, Trickster, Pirate, Knave, Assassin, Berserk, Executioner and Killer. That choice of names amply illustrates the lingering lack of enthusiasm of the Thiarian Navy for submarines.

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The next domestically designed submarine class outwardly looked very much like the worthless Claiomh-Solais-Class, but these boats introduced some important novelties (all of which were standard for most foreign submarines for some years already): They used licensed MAN Diesels, at that time the most reliable on the planet, and they were Thiaria's first submarines with internal torpedo tubes and a deck gun (a 65mm piece in her case). They sported much improved performance compared with the Claiomh Solais, being faster (13/8 knots), having better diving time (90 seconds) and were much safer to operate. The number and caliber of torpedoes remained the same. Their names mean Serpent, Dragon, Spectre, Wyvern, Vampire, Demon, Phantom and Imp. They were mostly used defensively to block the entrance to the Bauaine against enemy incursions, but also unleashed upon Brazilian shipping in 1917; they were the only Thiarian submarine class to score significantly against enemy merchants (between them 29 with 117.000 tons, mostly small coasters); they also claimed two British destroyers and one Brazilian one, two British minelayers and two British submarines. Three were lost in action, none of them by accident.

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The first large, oceangoing submarine design of the Thiarian Navy (1.000 tons surfaced) was an upscaled development of the Bladhmiaire-class, featuring steam propulsion for a very high surface speed of 20 knots (10 knots submerged due to very strong batteries, although at very short range), half the torpedo loadout externally and still not much of a CT, resulting in the same poor submerged stability. Diving time was the same, but range had been tripled. The boats were reliable enough, but they were employed by the same doctrine as the Bladhmiaires and achieved almost nothing. One of them sunk the large British destroyer HMS Swift in 1918, but four of them were lost, two by mines during a botched attack on capetown harbour, one in a diving accident and one by gunfire by Brazilian destroyers. Their names mean Cachalot, Dolphin, Porpoise, Whale, Mereswine, Walrus, Seal, Sealion, Narwhale, Killer Whale, Sea Leopard and Pilot Whale.

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The follow-on to the Siolpaire-class was a thoroughly revised 600-ton design that obviously incorporated some German influence; several German submarines had reached Thiaria during 1916 and were intensely studied. Although their performance looked impressive enough on paper (Speed 15/10 knots, one 100mm and one 65mm deck gun, four of the new 559mm torpedo tubes with eight fish), only six of the class were finished before the war ended, and those six failed to achieve anything during their very short active service period. Two were lost, one rammed by a British destroyer and one mined; the others were either surrendered in 1918/19 or broken up. Two were used by the Brazilian Navy between 1920 and 1936, but had to be scrapped prematurely due to a lack of spare parts. All boats in the class were named for ancient celtic deities from Irish mythology.

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The final Thiarian submarine type to be ordered during the war was this much improved 1.100 ton oceangoing long-range sub, whose performance was fully comparable with contemporary German submarines. None were finished, and all had to be broken up in 1919. Their names mean Barracuda, Hammerhead Shark, Swordfish, Stingray, Sea Devil, Basking Shark, Blue Shark and Octopus.

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