HMS B1 was the lead boat of the B-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.
The B class was an enlarged and improved version of the preceding A class. The submarines had a length of 142feet overall, a beam of 12feet and a mean draft of 11feet. They displaced 287LT on the surface and 316LT submerged. The B-class submarines had a crew of two officers and thirteen ratings.[1]
For surface running, the boats were powered by a single 16-cylinder 6000NaN0 Vickers petrol engine that drove one propeller shaft. When submerged the propeller was driven by a 180hp electric motor. They could reach 12kn on the surface and underwater.[1] On the surface, the B class had a range of 1000nmi at .[2]
The boats were armed with two 18-inch (450 mm) 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.[3]
She was originally to have been called A14 but was renamed B1 on completion. The boat was built at the Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness and launched on 25 October 1904. She was too primitive to be of much use in World War I and was quickly relegated to training duties. B1 was sold for scrap in May 1921.