North East Coast Joint Branch Event: The K Class Submarines - aka the Kalamity Class and the Suicide Club

Date: Thursday 28 May 2026
Time: 18:00-19:30
Venue: Neville Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1SE
Book here

During World War I, it was decided to build submarines which were fast enough to keep pace with surface ships.  Equipped with steam turbines to produce sufficient power, they were as large as modern nuclear submarines.  The engines were a success, but the submarines were an ill-conceived concept in other regards.  Geoff Horseman will describe incidents which led to these vessels becoming known as the "Kalamity Class" and an appointment as a crew member became known as joining "the Suicide Club".  Among these was a tragic event which was undisclosed for over 30 years and is not well known today.  In the so-called ‘Battle of May Island’, Royal Navy ships and submarines collided at night in the Firth of Forth early in 1918, with great loss of life.  In all, more than 200 men died while serving onboard the K class.  This lecture will tell the story of the K Class looking at some of the design issues with the submarines, recalling lessons learned which should not be forgotten and remembering the many men who perished due to those mistakes.

Speaker: Dr Ian L Buxton MBE BSc PhD FRINA, retired Reader in Marine Transport

Dr Ian Buxton graduated in naval architecture from Glasgow University and served his apprenticeship at the Denny shipyard on the River Clyde.  Much of his professional work was associated with computer aided design and maritime economics.  He held the position of Reader in Marine Transport in the Department of Marine Technology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1974 to2002.  He set up and managed the Marine Technology Special Collection at Newcastle University, an archive of shipbuilding and related material and its associated British Shipbuilding Database of 82,000 British built ships.

He is currently a Vice President of the World Ship Society, with a lifelong interest in maritime history and writing on ships, shipbuilding and shipbreaking.  Naval books include ‘Big Gun Monitors’, ‘The Battleship Builders’ and ‘Battleship Duke of York’ and, recently published in 2024, ‘British Naval Gun Mountings’.

Dr Buxton has very kindly stepped in at very short notice following the recent sudden sad passing of the original presenter Geoff Horseman, retired Chief Turbine Engineer of Siemens Power Generation / CA Parsons at their Newcastle-upon-Tyne site and former Principal Expert on Steam Turbines within Siemens globally.  Since retirement, Geoff had been working full time on documenting the Parsons history while original records still exist for preservation in museums.  It was during this work that he discovered the story of the K Class submarines which will be discussed in this lecture as a tribute to Geoff.