Don Everitt

This is pretty much by the numbers, but it does deal with a poor idea experimented with by both the Royal and Japanese Navies. The idea was simple, and was inspired by events during the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Tactics on the RN side were heavily influenced by the idea that there were German submarines present, and ready to launch an attack on the battle line. The speed of the battle, usually conducted at about 15 knots for even the slowest vessels would have rendered such vessels of little use, but the paranoia gave birth to the "K" Class of submarine.
These ships were to have a surface speed of 24 knots, to allow them to accompany the battleships, but had to have steam engines to produce the necessary power. They had electric engines to manoeuvre when submerged, and then had only about 9 knots available. And the dual power plants were a source of trouble for their short careers. No fewer than nine of them were involved in the "Battle of May Island", That night, the two flotillas of K boats collided with several Battlecruisers and their attendant light cruisers and destroyers. The result was 104 dead, the K-4 and K-17 sunk, and a light cruiser and four more K-boats damaged.
It was a monstrous cock-up, the K-boats were never used in their original tactical role and most of the details were withheld until the 1990's to spare the blushes.… (meer)