Completed between 1913 and 1916, this class was the most successful submarine built for the First World War. In all, 57 boats were built, of which 20 were built in the Barrow shipyard. Such was the need for these boats, that once war was declared, the work to build this class of boat was shared out amongst 13 shipyards.

Many Royal Navy submariners who rose to high rank, learned their trade in E Class submarines. E Class submarines, served in all areas of operations, the North Sea, Baltic, Mediterranean and famously, the Dardanelle's.

In conjunction with the Gallipoli campaign (1915), submarines were sent into the very dangerous areas of the Dardanelle's and the Sea of Marmora, to create as much disruption of Turkish sea traffic as they possibly could

E14 arrived in the Sea of Marmora on the 29 th April 1915, having safely completed the 12 hour passage through the heavily mined and netted Dardanelle's. She remained in the Sea of Marmora for seventy days, supporting other boats, including the Barrow built E 11 (Lt.Cdr. Martin Nasmith VC).

Boyle himself accounted for a considerable amount of Turkish shipping, including two gunboats and three troop transports which included the 5,000 ton Guj-Djemel carrying 6,000 troops and a battery of artillery to Galipoli. For his endeavours he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

E14 ended her days in the Dardanelle's. On January the 27 th 1918, she was sent into the Dardanelle's in an attempt to sink the German Battle-cruiser Goeben which was aground of Nagava Point.

E14 , now under the command of Lt. Cdr. G.S.White, arrived off Nagava only to find that Goeben had been towed away during the night. With nothing left to do, she reversed course to make her way out. On the way down the straight, she fired at a large merchantman, but the torpedo exploded prematurely , badly damaging E14.

The submarine continued her dived passage towards the open sea for two hours, becoming so heavily flooded that she became uncontrollable, forcing Lt. Cdr. White to surface in the hope making it on the surface.

E14 was hit by fire from shore batteries. With no hope of escape, White headed his submarine towards the shore to give his ships-company a chance of safety. Unfortunately, White was killed in the attempt, as were the majority of his crew. Only seven survived.

For his selfless sacrifice, Lt. Cdr. G.S.White was awarded the Victoria Cross.