View source for HMS J6

{{short description|J class submarine}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image               = Hms_j6_submarine.jpg
| Ship caption             = RN submarine ''HMS J6''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Ship country             = United Kingdom
| Ship flag                = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
| Ship name                = HMS ''J6''
| Ship ordered             =
| Ship builder             = HM Dockyard, Devonport
| Ship yard number         =
| Ship laid down           = 26 April 1915
| Ship launched            = 9 September 1915
| Ship acquired            =
| Ship commissioned        = 25 January 1916
| Ship decommissioned      =
| Ship fate                = Sunk 15 October 1918
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header              =
| Header caption           =
| Ship class               = {{sclass2|J|submarine}}
| Ship displacement        =
| Ship length              =
| Ship beam                =
| Ship draught             =
| Ship draft               =
| Ship propulsion          =
| Ship speed               =
| Ship range               =
| Ship endurance           =
| Ship test depth          =
| Ship complement          =
| Ship sensors             =
| Ship EW                  =
| Ship armament            =
| Ship notes               =
}}
|}
'''HMS ''J6''''' was a [[First World War]] [[J-class submarine]] built for the [[Royal Navy]] by HM Dockyard at [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport]] in [[Plymouth]].<ref>{{Cite Colledge2010|page=200}}</ref> Commissioned in 1916, she was sunk in a [[friendly fire]] incident by the [[Q-ship]]'' [[Cymric (schooner)|Cymric]]'' in October 1918.

==Career==
Under her first commanding officer, [[Max Kennedy Horton|Max Horton]], ''J6'' was launched on 9 September 1915 and commissioned on 25 January 1916. She and the other Js were members of the 11th Submarine Flotilla. She served in the [[North Sea]] chiefly in operations against German destroyers and [[U-boat]]s. The closest she got to sinking the enemy was firing a torpedo at [[SM U-61|''U-61'']], but it missed its target.

On 1 December 1917 Horton was replaced as commanding officer of ''J6'' by [[Lieutenant Commander]] Geoffrey Warburton.  In April 1918, Warburton spotted the German [[High Seas Fleet]], which had put to sea in an attempt to hunt down an Allied convoy. Warburton did not identify the fleet as German and did not report his sighting to the Admiralty; had he done so, it is possible that another full scale naval battle may have occurred.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.navyhistory.org.au/the-j-class-submarines/ |title=The J Class Submarines |publisher=Naval Historical Society of Australia |author=G Staff |date= June 1983 |work=Naval Historical Review |accessdate= 26 December 2011}}</ref>

==Loss==
[[File:StateLibQld 1 150259 Cymric (ship).jpg|right|250px|thumb|Cymric]]
On 15 October 1918 ''J6'' was on patrol off the Northumberland coast when she was spotted by the Q-ship ''Cymric''.  The captain of the ''Cymric'', Lieutenant F Peterson [[Royal Naval Reserve|RNR]], mistook the identity lettering on the conning tower of ''J6'' for ''U6''.  Assuming ''U6'' to indicate a German U-boat, Peterson raised the [[White ensign]] and opened fire on ''J6''.<ref>{{cite report |title=Court of Enquiry into sinking of HM Submarine J.6 by HM Special Service Vessel CYMRIC. Lieut F.H. Peterson D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N. HMS CYMRIC. |publisher=[[British Admiralty|The Admiralty]] |year=1918 |docket=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] ADM 156/131}}</ref> ''J6'' tried to signal, but the [[Signaller|signalman]] was killed. ''J6'' fled into a fog bank, but ''Cymric'' located ''J6'' again and sank her.<ref>{{harvnb|Akermann |1989|p=162}}</ref> After a number of direct hits, ''J6'' sank. It was only after the survivors were seen in the water that Peterson and the crew of ''Cymric'' realised their mistake and recovered the survivors.  Of the crew of ''J6'', 15 were lost;<ref>Akermann  reports 14 lost. {{harvnb|Akermann |1989|p=162}}</ref> a subsequent court of enquiry found that no action would be taken against Peterson.<ref>{{cite report |title=Court of Enquiry into sinking of HM Submarine J.6 by HM Special Service Vessel CYMRIC. Conduct of Lieut F.H. Petersen D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N. HMS CYMRIC |publisher=[[British Admiralty|The Admiralty]] |year=1919|docket=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] ADM 156/147}}</ref> An order under the [[Official Secrets Act 1911|Official Secrets Act]] prohibited mention of this incident until 1969.<ref>{{cite book|last=Richie|first=Carson|title=Q-ships|year=1985|isbn=0-86138-011-8|page=xi|publisher=Terence Dalton }}</ref>

Late in 2011 it was announced that divers had discovered her wreck off [[Seahouses]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Richard |last=Fletcher |title=Divers find WWI submarine wreck off Seahouses coast |url=http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-east-news/2011/12/04/divers-find-wwi-submarine-wreck-off-seahouses-coast-79310-29890134/ |work=[[Sunday Sun]]|location=Newcastle|date= 4 December 2011|accessdate=10 January 2012}}</ref> In the summer of 2013, the Polish Navy salvage ship ORP ''Lech'', searching for the wreck of the Polish submarine [[ORP Orzeł (1938)|ORP ''Orzeł'']], surveyed and officially confirmed the identity of ''J6''.<ref>{{cite news |first=Łukasz|last=Zalesiński |title=Polacy odkryli brytyjski okręt [''The Poles discovered a British ship'']|url=http://www.polska-zbrojna.pl/home/articleshow/10005?t=Polacy-odkryli-brytyjski-okret |work=Polska Zbrojna|date= 18 October 2013|accessdate=5 February 2014|language=pl}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book|last=Akermann |first=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=boO7WGL21EQC|title=Encyclopedia of British Submarines 1901-1955|date=1989|publisher=Periscope Publishing Ltd.|isbn=978-1-904381-05-1|language=en}}
{{J-class submarine}}
{{October 1918 shipwrecks}}

{{coord missing|North Sea}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:J6}}
[[Category:British J-class submarines]]
[[Category:Ships built in Plymouth, Devon]]
[[Category:1915 ships]]
[[Category:World War I submarines of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Friendly fire incidents of World War I]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1918]]
[[Category:World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea]]
[[Category:Royal Navy ship names]]
[[Category:Submarines sunk by British warships]]


{{UK-mil-submarine-stub}}