War hero Admiral sir Max Kennedy Horton

Max Kennedy Horton passed into H.M.S. "Britannia" in September 1898 and after being promoted Sub-Lieutenant served mostly in submarines.
During the first two years of World War One he commanded the submarine E.9 of 800 tons, one of the first ocean going submarines.
When the war happened, Horten was sent with others U-boat to protect the inshore waters of the Heligoland Bight and at dawn on the 13th September 1914. Horton brought E.9 to periscope depth about six miles S.S.W. of Heligoland Harbour. On his first look around he sighted the German light cruiser S.M.S. Hela was emerging from a clearing in the early morning mist.Horton fired two torpedoes and dived deep. The "Hela" was hit center of the ship and sank.   Despite being hunted for the rest of the day, and with E.9's batteries dangerously low, Horton managed to bring E.9 safely back to base at Harwich. Three weeks later Horton was off the mouth of the river Ems, where navigation was dangerous and the narrow channels between the sandbanks were heavily guarded by destroyers. Disgusted by not finding bigger game, Horton carefully stalked and at close range torpedoed the German destroyer S. 116. For these achievements Horton was awarded the D.S.O. and promotted to Commander.  In October 1914, E.9 passed through the Sound between Denmark and Sweden into the Baltic. It was a dangerous passage, as he had to negotiate a minefield and was forced down repeatedly by enemy destroyers. Safely through, E.9 vent to Reval where E.9 and a few other British submarines came under the orders of Admiral von Essen, the Russian Commander-in-Chief. Operating from Reval E.9 did a large number of patrols, sinking a destroyer and heavily damaging the German heavy cruiser S.M.S. Prinz Adalbert, besides intercepting and sinking a large number of merchant ships carrying the vital iron ore from Sweden to Germany.  Returning from Russia in 1915, Max Horton assumed command of the very large submarine J.6 and did a number of strenuous patrols in the North Sea. Later Horton was selected to command and supervise the building of the experimental submarine M.1. M.1 was a notable departure from existing design, carrying, in addition to M.1's torpedo armament a twelve-inc
h gun mounted in a turret.