HMS D4 - A British early 20th century submarine

The photograph was published in 1911 in the Swedish weekly magazine Hvar 8 Dag. Processing and colouring from 2016

HMS D4 was a British D class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow. D4 was laid down on 24 February 1910, launched 27 April 1911 and was commissioned on 29 November 1911. She was the first submarine to be fitted with a gun for offensive use.

During D4's career, she sank the grounded the German netlayer Bielefeld in the Heligoland Bight, on 15 June 1915.

Later in her career, D4 torpedoed UB-72 on 12 May 1918. At 04:30 that day, whilst on patrol approximately midway between Guernsey and Portland Bill, D4 observed UB72 on the surface travelling in a southerly direction some two miles distant. Five minutes later Lt Claud Barry in command of D4 saw UB72, obviously unaware of the British boat's presence, alter course so that the U-boat appeared to be approaching D4. In order that his presence should not be detected Lt Barry lowered his periscope for a few minutes but at 0443 D4's periscope was raised to reveal UB72 steering an easterly course. A few minutes later UB72 was on the British boat's port side and Barry waited until the U-boat came on to his sights. At 0450 Lt Barry fired a torpedo 600 yards from target and after lowering periscope for a few moments he released a second one. Ten seconds later the crew of D4 heard an explosion and felt a violent concussion. Barry brought his boat to the surface and headed towards three men swimming in a patch of oil. He succeeded in picking up these men, who were the only survivors of UB72's crew of three officers and thirty-one men.

D4 was decommissioned in 1919 and was then sold on 17 December 1921 to H Pounds, Portsmouth. (Wiki)

A Swedish king as a British Royal Navy Admiral

The official photograph of King Gustav (dressed as a Royal Navy Admiral) and Queen Victoria, taken at the Windsor Castle during the Royal visit in 1908. 

Traditions have been - and still are - of particular importance to the British armed forces. The custom of the Royal Navy to appoint foreign royals to be honorary Admirals is one such tradition, although nowadays very sparingly used. 

When King Gustav V of Sweden together with his wife, Queen Victoria made an official state visit to Britain in the fall of 1909 (less than a year after the king had taken office) he arrived dressed as a British Admiral of the Fleet. 

The arrival ceremony in Portsmouth.

The Swedish royal couple arrived in Portsmouth on board the British Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert.

PS

Also the present King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, is an Honorary Admiral of the Royal British Navy, although I have not seen him wear the uniform.  

The birth of aircraft carriers: The first flight from a moving ship a hundred years ago

Commander Charles Samson taking off from the runway on the foredeck of  HMS  Hibernia.

The development of aircraft carriers began in the early 1900s. The first experimental take off of a fixed-wing aircraft from a ship took place in the United States in 1910 from the deck of U.S. Navy cruiser USS Birmingham. In May 1912 the British naval aviation pioneer Charles Rumney Samson became the first man to take off from a ship underway. Sources differ on whether the flight from the runway, built over the foredeck of the battleship HMS Hibernia, took place on 2 May, 4 May or 9 May. The Hibernia is reported to have steamed at 10.5 knots at the time of Sampson's take-off. It all happened during the Royal Fleet Review in Weimouth Bay. 

A Royal Navy aircraft at the Royal Fleet Review.

 During the fleet review,King George V (on the extreme left) witnessed a number of flights.

The Swedish news magazine Hvar 8 Dag reported in its May 1912 issue that the Royal Fleet Review had received a lot of attention in England as well as elsewhere, because the Royal Navy had for the first time used airplanes in its operations:

"The Hibernia had been completely adapted into an airplaneship, from which Commander Samson flew several particularly beautiful and succesful flights, which were observed with great interest by the foremost authorities of the Royal Navy." 

The news report also cites German sources who believed that the use of airplanes "could mean a turning point in the entire British naval strategy."