A WELL-PRESENTED AND FINELY DETAILED BUILDER'S-STYLE MODEL OF THE ILL-FATED SUBMARINE H.M.S. M1 (1917)
modelled by D. Simpson with laminated carved hull finished in blue and grey ripple camouflage, gilt fittings including propellers, hatch covers, secondary armament, grab wires, conning tower with periscopes and snorkels extended, telescopic wireless aerial, fore and aft planes mounted along the keel to a wooden stand contained within wood-bound Plexiglas display case with builder's-style plates. Overall measurements -- 19½ x 64 x 12in. (49.5 x 162.5 x 30.5cm.)

Ordered towards the end of the First World War and originally intended as a coastal bombardment vessel, M1 never saw active service. Launched on 9th July, 1917, she measured 295 feet and 9 inches, with a beam of 24 feet 8 inches and could reach a speed of 15 knots surfaced and 8 knots submerged. Her armament comprised four 18in. torpedo tubes and a 3in. quick-firing anti-aircraft gun. However, M1's most distinctive feature was the massive single 12 in. gun mounted forward of her conning tower. This gun was to prove to be her Achilles heel and had a major flaw: it had to be loaded when the vessel was surfaced and fired when partially submerged. The need to be partially submerged ended in disaster on 12th November 1925 when, while out on a training exercise in the English Channel, the keel of the Swedish vessel S.S. Vidar passed blindly over her, knocking the gun turret off its mounting. She sank quickly taking with her the entire crew of 69 souls. The wreck site is now protected.