E9 was the best Royal Navy submarine in service when war was declared. Under her captain, Max Horton, she successfully entered the Baltic and was the first submarine to sink a German warship, the cruiser SMS Hela. E9 was not fitted with a deck gun at first and the casting reflects this. E( was scuttled at the end of the Great War having supported the White forces following the Russian Revolution to avoid her falling into the hands of Soviet forces when the British squadrons were withdrawn.