HMS Holland 5 Holland 5 was the last of the five " Holland " - class submarine s ordered by the British Admiralty to evaluate the potential of the submarine with the Royal Navy . She was one of the first submarines to be accepted into Royal Navy service , and unique to her class , she carried one of the earliest periscope s . By the time she was launched , a number of A class submarine s had already been ordered to replace this class in navy service . She had a single hull design , built from " s " grade steel . She sank whilst under tow to the scrap yard in 1912 , possibly caused by the torpedo hatch being left open . The wreck was rediscovered in 2000 and was protected under the Protection of Wrecks Act in 2005 . Damage has been caused to the site in recent years , and at some point between September 2008 and June 2010 , the torpedo hatch was stolen off the wreck . Design and description . " Holland 5 " was the fifth of the experimental Holland class submarine s to be launched , in 1902 , at a cost of £35 , 000 . She was built by Vickers , Sons and Maxim in Barrow - in - Furness , under licence from Holland Torpedo Boat Company and to a design by John Phillip Holland . She was launched two months ahead of " Holland 6 " ( which was later designated " A1 " ) . The British Holland class was an extension of the design used on USS " Holland " . She was equipped with one of the first periscope s ; at the time of her launch , no other submarines in the Royal Navy or the United States Navy were so equipped . It was of British design , which used a ball and socket joint on the hull to raise and lower the scope . She was constructed of " s " grade steel , which at the time of her construction was only used on this class of submarine and the Forth Bridge . She utilised a single hull design , and so her pressure hull contained her fuel tanks , ballast and other internal workings . However , she was limited to a maximum depth of . Service history . Along with " Holland 3 " , she was one of the first two submarines to be accepted into Royal Navy service on 19 January 1903 . However , by the time she was launched she was already considered obsolete and thirteen A class submarine s had already been ordered . On 4 March 1903 , she was part of the flotilla of Holland class submarines that were undergoing a demonstration for Captain Reginald Bacon in Stokes Bay when a gasoline explosion occurred aboard " Holland 1 " . Along with the other Holland class submarines , she was quickly reduced to the role of harbor defense and training . By 1909 , at the time of fleet display in the Thames , the Holland class were no longer considered " sea worthy " by the media . In 1910 , " Holland 5 " ran aground off Fort Blockhouse , the location of HMS Dolphin and the home of the Royal Navy Submarine Service . By 1912 , the decision was made to scrap the Holland class vessels . The submarine foundered off Beachy Head , Sussex on 8 August 1912 , when she was under tow on the way to being scrapped at Sheerness . It was not clear why she sank , but a theory is that the torpedo tube hatch was left open , causing the boat to take on water . Wreck discovery and research . In September 2000 , the wreck of submarine " Holland 5 " was discovered at a depth of about off the British coast near Eastbourne . In April 2001 , the Archaeological Diving Unit conducted a sonar scan and confirmed the identity of the wreck . The boat sits upright on the seabed . On 4 January 2005 , Andrew McIntosh , Minister for Tourism and Heritage of the Department for Culture , Media and Sport , announced that the wreck was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act . This makes trophy hunting and vandalism of the site a criminal offence . McIntosh said of the announcement , " Only two of the Holland submarines survive today . The Holland no . 5 is thought to be intact and in good condition . I am pleased that this Order will preserve the wreck site allowing proper study of the vessel and preventing any vandalism by trophy hunters . " In August 2005 and August 2006 , amateur archaeologists had the opportunity to dive the wreck as part of a research programme led by official licensee Innes McCartney and nominated archaeologist Mark Beattie - Edwards , under the auspices of the Nautical Archaeology Society . Following further dives in June 2010 and August 2010 , it was discovered that at some point divers had stolen the torpedo tube hatch off the wreck . It was determined that the item would have no monetary value and would have gone into a private collection . There were no official dives on the wreck during 2009 due to the conditions , and the last sighting of the hatch in place was in September 2008 . Further damage has been caused to the site by fishing nets , which may have resulted in damage to the periscope and the other implements installed on the upper superstructure . " Holland 5 " remains the only submarine of her class on the seabed . " Holland 1 " , the only other boat of her class remaining , is on show at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport , Hampshire . Species seen on or around the wreck site include brown crab s , European spider crab s , poutings , poor cod , Sagartia elegans ( a species of sea anemone ) , worms of the Serpulidae family , and European Conger .