HMS J1

HMS J1 (later HMAS J1) was a Royal Navy J class submarine built by HM Dockyard at Portsmouth in Hampshire and launched on 6 November 1915.

Service history
J1 operated in patrols in the North Sea. In November 1916, a German force of half a destroyer flotilla, three dreadnoughts, and a battlecruiser set out from port to rescue two submarines SMS U-20 (Germany) and SMS U-30 (Germany) that were stranded in fog off Jutland. On the return, having only rescued one of the submarines, the force passed J1 off Horns Reef on 5 November 1916.

Two of the dreadnoughts, SMS Kronprinz and SMS Grosser Kurfürst (1913), were torpedoed by J1, earning her commanding officer, Commander N. F. Laurence, a Bar for his Distinguished Service Order. The dreadnoughts did not sink, but reached port and underwent repairs.

The submarine was later transferred to Gibraltar for operations in the Mediterranean. On 9 November 1918, during an engagement with SMU UB-57, J1 launched a depth charge from a specially fitted launcher.

J1 was transferred along with five other J class submarines to Australia on 25 March 1919. She operated out of Geelong until she was paid off on 12 July 1922. J1 was sold to the Melbourne Salvage Company on 26 February 1924. The hulk was scuttled in the ship graveyard off Port Phillip Heads at -38.31611°N, 144.55361°W on 26 May 1926. The J1 wreck, also known as "38 Metre Sub", "135 Foot Sub", or "New Sub", is submerged in 38 m of water, and is accessible by experienced divers.