He spent 6 months at Ganges before joining HMS Hawke, a cruiser which had earlier achieved notoriety for colliding with RMS Olympic (sister ship of the Titanic) in the Solent in 1911, causing serious damage and great embarrassment to both parties involved. After 4 months on Hawke, he was transferred in June 1913 to HMS Vengeance, one of the older pre-Dreadnought battleships with four 12-inch guns. On the outbreak of war, the Vengeance initially formed part of the Channel Fleet before moving successively to West Africa, Egypt, Cape Verde & the Canary Islands, and finally the Dardanelles. Here the ship supported the ill-fated landings until problems with her boilers forced her to return to Britain for a refit in July 1915. During his two years on Vengeance, Stanley was in quick succession rated as Ordinary then Able Seaman (AB): since enlistment he had added half an inch to his height and one and a quarter inches to his chest measurement, and had also acquired tattoos of ‘Mother’ and ‘Nellie’ on his arms.
He then spent just over 4 months ashore assigned to HMS Pembroke, the naval barracks at Chatham, during which time he qualified as a torpedo specialist. In December 1915 he was back in active service on HMS Champion, a brand-new light cruiser which was assigned to the Grand Fleet and which fought at the Battle of Jutland in May-June 1916. In July 1917 he passed the examination for Leading Seaman (which did not bring automatic promotion) and was posted to HMS Dolphin, the Royal Navy’s submarine school. Here he obtained a Gunnery Instructor’s badge before being sent in November to join HM Submarine E14, captained by Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey White.
The E14 had already achieved fame during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 when it had penetrated the Dardanelles and sunk several vessels in the Sea of Marmora, earning a VC for its then commander, Edward Boyle. In January 1918 the E14 sailed into the Dardanelles once again with orders to locate and sink the Turkish battlecruiser Yavuz (the renamed German ship Goeben), but it could not be found at its reported position and so the E14 attacked an enemy merchantman instead. Unfortunately the torpedo exploded prematurely and damaged the E14 itself, forcing the submarine eventually to surface where she came under intense fire from Turkish shore batteries. The captain attempted to beach his vessel, but the E14 sank and only 9 of the crew of 32 were rescued by the Turks: amongst the missing was AB Stanley Emeney. His service record simply states that he lost his life on Naval Service on January 28th 1918, and that a war gratuity was paid, presumably to his next-of-kin. After the end of the war, the medals to which he was entitled (1914-1915 Star, Victory Medal and British War Medal) were issued to his mother Alice.
In June 2012, the wreck of the E14 was located in 20m of water, some 250m off Kum Kale, desperately close to the exit from the Dardanelles and safety. Most of the submarine is buried in sand but it appears largely intact, though a shell hole is visible in the bow. This war grave is probably the last resting place of Stanley Walter Emeney.