Overview
HMS K3 was a member of the K class submarines.
HMS K3 is associated with United Kingdom and Royal Navy. It belonged to K class submarines, so the class page provides the shared design history while this page concentrates on the individual ship.
Construction and identity
The available construction record identifies HMS K3 as built by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness, launched on 1916-05-20, and completed on 1917.
The ship's documented identity includes service with Royal Navy.
Service history
Served as a high-speed fleet submarine with the Grand Fleet submarine flotillas during or immediately after World War I.
The ship's configuration should be interpreted through the documented class and the dates attached to this individual vessel; equipment should not be assumed to have remained unchanged throughout service.
Class context: K class submarines
The K class was an attempt to build submarines fast enough on the surface to operate with the battle fleet.
As a member of K class submarines, HMS K3 shared the class's documented design framework and intended roles of Fleet submarine and Scouting. Individual refits, transfers, and wartime changes belong to this ship only when separately documented.
Later service and disposition
sold for scrapping. The associated date is 1920s.
HMS K3 matters as an individual career within K class submarines, allowing class-wide design history to be separated from this ship's own construction, identities, service, and fate.
Class relationship
This ship is recorded as a member of K class submarines. Shared design history belongs on the class page; this page concentrates on the individual hull where evidence is available.
Sources and further reading
- Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921Conway Maritime Press
- British Warships 1914–1919 ↗Ian Allan / Naval-History.Net · accessed 2026-09-18
- British Submarines in Two World WarsSeaforth Publishing
- Royal Navy K-class submarines — British Warships 1914–1919 ↗Naval-History.Net · accessed 2026-09-18