Date of Incident: 25 June, 1921
Returned to Service: No
On a warm summer night, K.15 sank in the Portsmouth tidal basin while tied up alongside the light cruiser HMS Canterbury.
During the day, the extremely hot weather had caused the hydraulic oil in her ballast control system to expand and overflow. As evening fell, the cooler conditions caused what little oil remained to contract again. The loss of oil pressure caused the ballast vents to open, and the submarine sank. Fortunately, most of her crew were on leave ashore, and the watch was able to awaken the remaining members in time to evacuate the submarine. Unfortunately, few of the watertight doors were closed, and every compartment was flooded. K.15 was declared a total loss and scrapped.
(Everitt)
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