hms "e13" had a relatively short career during world war i. on 14 august 1915, she was despatched from harwich, accompanied by her sister vessel hms "e8". the two submarines had orders to sail to the baltic sea to interdict german shipping, particularly vessels carrying iron ore shipments from sweden. at around 01:00 on 18 august 1915, the submarine ran aground in shallow water near saltholm island in the øresund between malmö and copenhagen, because of a defective gyrocompass. at dawn she became clearly visible. at 05:00 the royal danish navy torpedo boat "narhvalen" appeared on the scene and hailed the "e13's" commander, lt cdr geoffrey layton, informing him that he had 24 hours to refloat his vessel and leave before he and his crew would be interned for violating denmark's neutrality.