A1 was the first British-designed and built submarine. Although the Solent area wreck site of A1 has been known to a lot of divers and the marks published in many a book, the site has been off limits since its designation as a protected wreck in 1998. The combination of a new wreck to visit and the sheer importance of visiting such a historic wreck generated a lot of interest from within the club. In 2006 when we had enough qualified members to carry out survey work - some are NAS trained while others hold the Marine Conservation Society's "Seasearch" survey qualifications - we were able to survey the wreck. The survey was divided into two main areas: the hull structure and the marine life found on the hull.

SSAC Diving Officer Martin Davies is the licensee and also hosts the reports on his own website, including a 3D image of the submarine.

A number of divers have recorded and published videos on YouTube of their visit to HMS A1 over the years. We have created a playlist on our YouTube channel showing some of them. The videos have been arranged in order of when they were recorded or published (when the recording date is not clear), with the oldest first.

Click to view the playlist