View source for Submarine Mining Service

{{Short description|British engineering military unit}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name                     = Submarine Mining Service
| image                         =
| image_size                    =
| caption                       =
| dates                         = 1871–1906
| country                       = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| allegiance                    =
| branch                        = {{army|United Kingdom}}
| type                          = Harbour defence
| size                          =
| command_structure             = [[Corps of Royal Engineers]]
}}
The '''Submarine Mining Service''' was a branch of the [[British Army]]'s [[Corps of Royal Engineers]] between 1871 and 1906.  They were responsible for defending ports and rivers by naval mines and torpedoes.  Overseas detachments served in British colonies and dominions.  The service disbanded after the [[Committee of Imperial Defence]] considered that harbour defence duties were better suited to the submarine fleet of the [[Royal Navy]].
== History ==
The Submarine Mining Service was established at [[Chatham, Kent]], in 1871 as a branch of the [[British Army]]'s [[Corps of Royal Engineers]].<ref name=cooley196/>  Its role was to assist in the defence of strategically important river mouths and ports by the use of [[naval mine]]s and torpedoes.<ref name=habesch>{{cite book |last1=Habesch |first1=David |title=Army's Navy: British Military Vessels and Their History Since Henry VIII |date=2001 |publisher=Greenhill Books |isbn=978-1-86176-157-6 |pages=20–21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHbfAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>  The unit was initially equipped with former [[gunboat|mortar boats]] of [[Crimean War]] vintage and {{convert|42|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} former [[Royal Navy]] tugs and [[Pinnace (ship's boat)|pinnace]]s, the latter of which could deploy mines but not recover them.<ref name=cooley196>{{cite book |last1=Cooley |first1=Reg |title=The Unknown Fleet: The Army's Civilian Seamen in War and Peace |date=1993 |publisher=Alan Sutton |isbn=978-0-7509-0384-4 |page=196 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gJvfAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>  From 1875 they were issued with purpose-built vessels, the first of which were the {{convert|65|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} ''Miner'' class.<ref name=habesch/><ref name=cooley196/>  By 1898 the service had 67 vessels ranging in size from 20 tons to 125 tons in displacement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cooley |first1=Reg |title=The Unknown Fleet: The Army's Civilian Seamen in War and Peace |date=1993 |publisher=Alan Sutton |isbn=978-0-7509-0384-4 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gJvfAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
The Submarine Mining Service was organised as a single [[battalion]] from 1884 but as [[Independent company (British Army)|independent companies]] from 1892.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Bulletin |date=1982 |publisher=The Society. |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eaErAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}</ref>  Its members were trained initially at the [[Royal Engineers Museum|Royal Engineers school, Gillingham]], and later at new schools in [[Portsmouth]] and [[Plymouth]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Bernard Roland |title=The School of Military Engineering, 1812–1909 |date=1909 |publisher=Royal Engineers Institute |page=49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6tAAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>  The flag of the Submarine Mining Service was a [[blue ensign]] with the unit's badge of a hand rising from  mural crown, grasping a thunderbolt.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hulme |first1=Frederick Edward |title=The Flags of the World: Their History, Blazonry and Associations |date=1 January 1890 |publisher=Library of Alexandria |isbn=978-1-4655-4311-0 |page=266 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jt450XgGd1kC |language=en}}</ref>
Former commander, Lieutenant-Colonel William Baker-Brown, said that "the Submarine Mining Service was remarkable for the cheapness and efficiency of its organisation and its success in enlisting the services of a body of auxiliary corps drawn from many nationalities and under many conditions of service".<ref name=kwong35/>  Despite this, in the early 20th century the [[Committee of Imperial Defence]] recommended the service's abolition as they determined the defence of British ports was best achieved by submarines of the Royal Navy, such as the newly introduced [[Holland-class submarine|Holland-class]], [[A-class submarine (1903)|A-class]] and [[British B-class submarine|B-class]] vessels.  In 1906 the British branch of the Submarine Mining Service disbanded and the role of harbour defence transferred to the navy.<ref name=kwong35/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Parliament |first1=Australia |title=Parliamentary Debates |date=1909 |publisher=Printed and published for the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia by J. Kemp |page=2604 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QE0lAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref>  This led to similar disbandments of Submarine Mining Service units overseas such as in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Times |first1=London The |title=The Times Documentary History of the War: Overseas, pt. 2 |date=1919 |publisher=Times Publishing Company |page=296 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VKhCAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
== In South and East Asia ==
Overseas detachments of the Submarine Mining Service were established in the British colonies of Hong Kong, Ceylon and Singapore in 1878.  The three units gathered regularly at Singapore for joint exercises.<ref name=kwong35>{{cite book |last1=Kwong |first1=Chi Man |title=Hong Kongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860–1997 |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-284574-0 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bwdZEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>  From 1886 the three units were combined into the Eastern Battalion of Submarine Miners for organisational purposes.<ref name=kwong36>{{cite book |last1=Kwong |first1=Chi Man |title=Hong Kongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860–1997 |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-284574-0 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bwdZEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>  Originally Asian personnel were not permitted to join, though the Hong Kong unit maintained unofficial assistants of Chinese origin.<ref name=kwong35/>  From 1890 Malay men were permitted to enlist in the battalion and from August 1891 men of Chinese origin were allowed.<ref name=kwong36/>  By 1900 men of Chinese origin made up around half of the 179 enlisted men in the Hong Kong unit.<ref name=kwong36/>
[[File:George Macdonogh.jpg|thumb|upright|George Macdonogh]]
The Chinese enlisted personnel were given ranks based on those used in the [[British Indian Army]] (the highest holding [[subedar]] rank) and were paid on approximately the same basis as Indian troops.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kwong |first1=Chi Man |title=Hong Kongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860–1997 |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-284574-0 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bwdZEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>  The Chinese members of the Submarine Mining Service wore a uniform similar to that of Chinese members of the [[Hong Kong Police Force]]: lightweight light-blue-coloured garments worn with a bamboo [[coolie hat]].<ref name=kwong38>{{cite book |last1=Kwong |first1=Chi Man |title=Hong Kongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860–1997 |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-284574-0 |page=38|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bwdZEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>  The uniform had been designed by Lieutenant-General [[George Macdonogh]] as a young [[Subaltern (military)|subaltern]] commanding the unit in 1891 and based on that worn by the contemporary [[Imperial Chinese Army]].<ref name=kwong40/>  The Hong Kong submarine mining company was described by the ''[[Hong Kong Telegraph]]'' in 1896 as the only company of the British Army to wear a silk uniform.<ref name=kwong40/>  This was likely incorrect with the material used probably "Cantonese gauze", a material resembling silk but more durable.<ref name=kwong40>{{cite book |last1=Kwong |first1=Chi Man |title=Hong Kongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860–1997 |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-284574-0 |page=40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bwdZEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>
Six Chinese members of the Hong Kong company participated in the London celebrations of the [[Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria]] in 1897 and the same number in the 1902 [[Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra]].  In 1900 a lieutenant, three European enlisted men and fifteen Chinese enlisted men participated in the [[Gaselee Expedition]] to relieve the [[Siege of the International Legations]] in [[Peking]] during the [[Boxer Rebellion]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kwong |first1=Chi Man |title=Hong Kongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860–1997 |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-284574-0 |page=42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bwdZEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>  The foreign units of the service were relatively cheap to maintain; the Hong Kong company cost £580 in 1906, around one-thousandth of the cost of the British garrison.<ref name=kwong38/>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1871]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1906]]
[[Category:Coast defence units and formations of the British Army]]
[[Category:Submarine mining units of the Royal Engineers]]