The photograph shows Hazard alongside three early Royal
Navy submarines, making this a particularly interesting
postcard for collectors of naval history, early submarines,
Royal Navy vessels and Edwardian postcards.
The three small submarines alongside Hazard provide
a remarkable snapshot of the very early Royal Navy
submarine service. At the beginning of the twentieth
century submarines were still an experimental and
developing technology. Within little more than a decade
they would become one of the most important
weapons of naval warfare.
The postcard therefore captures a moment before
submarine warfare had fully revealed
what it would become.
Hazard was converted in 1901 into the world's first submarine
depot ship. She subsequently supported the Royal Navy's
pioneering submarine flotillas, making this postcard
a genuine visual record of the very early development
of Britain's submarine service.
H.M.S. Hazard was a Dryad-class torpedo gunboat, launched
at Pembroke Dockyard in February 1894 and
commissioned in 1895.
Her later career was much more historically significant.In 1901
she was converted into a submarine depot ship, becoming the
world's first submarine depot ship. She was commissioned
in this new role on 20 August 1901, with Captain Reginald
Bacon becoming her first commanding officer in the
role of Inspecting Captain of Submarine Boats.
In 1902 Hazard led a group including H.M. Submarines
No. 2 and No. 3 and Torpedo Boat No. 42 to Portsmouth.
There they joined Submarines Nos. 1, 4 and 5 to form
the First Submarine Flotilla. She also participated in
the Fleet Review at Spithead in August 1902 for the
coronation of King Edward VII.
On 2 February 1912, Hazard accidentally rammed the
submarine A3 while it was surfacing during exercises.
A3 sank with the loss of all 14 men aboard. Historic
England records this as an important event in the
history of Britain's early submarine service.
During the First World War, Hazard continued her submarine
support duties. She was ultimately lost on 28 January
1918, when she collided with the hospital ship Western
Australia in thick fog in the English Channel.
What gives a card like this its deeper appeal is that it is
more than an image of a warship. It is a tangible piece
of history: not a digital picture glanced at and forgotten,
but an object that has physically survived the age that
produced it. And in this case, the postcard captures
something particularly important — the birth
of Britain's submarine service.
The three submarines lying alongside Hazard are not
merely background details. They represent a technology
that was still in its infancy when this card was produced.
More than a century later, the postcard remains as a
physical record of those pioneering days.
For a collector, that gives this card an appeal that
goes well beyond its age or appearance. You are
holding a surviving piece of the story of how
the Royal Navy entered the age
of submarine warfare.