31/08/2026
During World War I (WWI), Australia had two submarines supporting the war effort: the AE1 and the AE2. Prior to ordering their build in 1910, both Australia and England underwent strong debate as to the value and possible uses of submarines as a new fighting technology. Some held firmly negative opinions such as the First Sea Lord, Sir Arthur Wilson, who wrote, 'submariners are nothing more than tradesmen and submarines are underhand, unfair and damned un-English. All submariners captured should be treated as pirates and hanged.' Despite such opinions, Australia ordered two submarines which were to be built in England. When crews made the es**rted journey from Barrow-in-Furness to Sydney Harbour, arriving just prior to the war in May 1914, it was the longest submarine voyage ever undertaken.
This pioneer voyage was not without its difficulties. The crew, which was a mix of Australians and Brits, dealt with frequent mechanical difficulties and technical malfunctions. For a large part of the journey, the submarines were towed by their es**rting ships and needed considerable repairs when in ports. The design of the submarines meant the crews were already living in cramped surroundings with polluted air conditions that worsened while underwater. Certain malfunctions then also led to the overheating of the submarines, so that at times, the interior of the vessel reached up to 38 degrees. It is no surprise then that once in Australia, the submarines were undergoing comprehensive refits. When war was declared just a few months later in July, the refits were hastily, rather than comprehensively, finished.
The AE1 was the first Australian naval vessel lost in WWI, disappearing off the coast of Rabaul during a patrol on 14 September 1914. Patrolling with HMAS Parramatta, the vessels were looking for signs of the German Asiatic Cruiser Squadron and were exchanging visual signals until 3:30 pm. This was the last time the AE1 submarine was seen until the wreck was found in 2017. A survey of the wreck found one of the ship’s ventilation system hull valves was left open when the submarine dived underwater that final time. This, as well as the defect of the starboard main engine clutch which left only the port main motor working, would have led to flooding in the after section of the hull, rapid loss of control, and swift sinking. Once the submarine sank below its 100m crush depth, the pressure wave generated by the implosion would have killed the crew instantaneously.
The sad loss of AE1 caused widespread public grieving in Australia, as the arrival of the fascinating submarines in Sydney had captured their attention only a few months earlier. The crew of AE2 also felt the loss keenly, with Able Seaman John Harrison Wheat writing that the AE1’s fate had 'cast a great gloom over us as we all had friends who had gone and we were the only two submarines in Southern Waters.' Two Queenslanders were serving on board the AE1 when it sunk with all hands: Stoker Ernest Blake and Stoker Petty Officer John Moloney.
Ernest Blake was born at Norman Park in Brisbane and enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy at 21 years old in February 1913. He was unmarried, with his father Edward Blake listed as his next of kin. Ernest also had two brothers, Walter and Frederick, who both enlisted in the infantry and both died at Gallipoli in 1915. A friend of Walter’s, Sergeant Hodgson, writes in The Brisbane Courier about the brothers’ bravery and sacrifice, that 'if every young fellow in Queensland was as game as they were things would have been going strong today.'
John Moloney was a Queenslander by birth, born in Capalaba in 1889, but was living in Sydney at the time of his enlistment. He enlisted on 17 December 1912 and married his English wife, Beatrice May in Portsmouth in 1913. John and Beatrice had a young daughter, Louisa May, when he died with the sinking of the AE1 just a year after his marriage. Beatrice and Louisa remained in Sydney after John’s passing, with Beatrice remarrying (to another naval stoker) in 1915.
We thank those who lost their lives while serving on HMAS Submarine AE1 for their service.
Images:
Page 28 of The Queenslander Pictorial, supplement to The Queenslander, 19 July 1919, unidentified, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no 702692-19190719-s0028.
L: Stoker Ernest Blake, 21 September 1914, The Brisbane Courier, Trove.
R: Stoker-Petty-Officer John Joseph Moloney, 21 September 1914, The Daily Telegraph, Trove.
