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45-620: The origin of the Seehund began with the salvage of the two British X class submarines HMS  X6 and X7 which had been lost by the Royal Navy during Operation Source , an attempt to sink the German battleship Tirpitz . Hauptamt Kriegschiffbau subsequently produced a design for a two-man submarine based on inspection of the British boats, designated Type XXVIIA and named Hecht (" Pike "). Like

90-407: A 30 hp electric motor , giving a maximum surface speed of 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph) and a submerged speed of about one third of that. The crew initially numbered three – commander, pilot and ERA ( Engine Room Artificer , i.e. engineer), but soon a specialist diver was added, for whom an airlock , known as a "wet and dry" compartment, was provided. The ERA, usually

135-453: A Navy Chief Petty Officer , operated and maintained the machinery in the vessel. The weapons on the "X-Craft" were two side-cargoes – explosive charges held on opposite sides of the hull with two tons of amatol in each. The intention was to drop these on the sea bed underneath the target and then escape. The charges were detonated by a time fuse . The craft were fitted with electromagnets to evade detection by anti-submarine detectors on

180-545: A completely reworked interior. These operations were part of a longer series of frogman operations; see human torpedo . The operational base and training establishment was HMS  Varbel at the former Kyles Hydro Hotel at Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. Their first deployment was Operation Source in September, 1943, an attempt to neutralise

225-601: A crew of five, acted as navigational beacons to help the D-Day invasion fleet land on the correct beaches ( Operation Gambit ), as part of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP). The craft were also equipped with a radio beacon and echo sounder to help direct Canadian and British ships to the suitable positions on Sword and Juno beaches. Oxygen bottles on both craft enabled the crews to remain submerged for extended periods during this operation, 64 hours of

270-542: A fictionalized account of X-class midget submarines, especially XE-16 and its crew, performing several highly secret operations in occupied Europe. A 2006 Alexander Fullerton novel, The Gatecrashers , features a fictionalized account of X-class midget submarines, including X-12 piloted by one of the protagonists, that lays explosive charges to damage the Tirpitz . Germaniawerft Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft (often just called Germaniawerft , " Germania shipyard")

315-452: A new company was founded, the Schiff- und Maschinenbau-Actien-Gesellschaft Germania . A few more warships were constructed and the company also had a very good reputation concerning the construction of torpedo boats . However the financial problems were never far away and by the end of August 1896 Krupp took over, as they were very interested in building warships themselves. Between 1898 and 1902

360-548: A number of battleships for the Kaiserliche Marine, including SMS  Posen , SMS  Prinzregent Luitpold , SMS  Kronprinz , and SMS  Sachsen . A total of 84 U-boats were built in the shipyard during the war. After the war it returned to the normal production of yachts and transports. The company was founded in 1867 by Lloyd Foster , as the Norddeutsche Schiffbau-Gesellschaft , in

405-449: Is some evidence that X5 also placed her charges; X10 also penetrated the anchorage but was unable to attack and the crew were picked up by another submarine). Tirpitz was badly damaged, crippled, and out of action until May 1944; it was destroyed on 12 November 1944 by Avro Lancaster bombers during Operation Catechism in Tromsø, Norway. For this action, Cameron and Place were awarded

450-614: The English Channel , and could attack on the surface in turbulent weather, but had to be almost stationary for submerged attacks. From January to April 1945 Seehunds performed 142 sorties, and accounted for about 93,000 gross tons of shipping (British sources estimate 120,000 tons). Administratively, the Seehund s were under the command of Lehrkommandos , which were part of the German Navy's special operations branch . Within each Lehrkommando were subordinate K-Flotilla ; K-Flottille 311

495-548: The Kaiserliche Marine , including SMS  Posen , SMS  Prinzregent Luitpold , SMS  Kronprinz Wilhelm and SMS  Sachsen . During the First World War, the company turned to building U-boats . A total of 84 U-boats were delivered to the Kaiserliche Marine. Afterwards, it returned to its original vocation, including building the steel- hulled barque Magdalene Vinnen II , now STS  Sedov and

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540-779: The Technik Museum Speyer , the Deutsches Museum , Munich, the Marinemuseum Wilhelmshaven and the German Maritime Museum ( Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum ), Bremerhaven, and Curioseum Willingen (which has been test operated by the owners in a local lake). A cutaway of a Seehund is in the exhibition of the Bundeswehr Museum of German Defense Technology located in Koblenz . In April 2002 the wreck of U-5095

585-723: The Victoria Cross , whilst Robert Aitken, Richard Haddon Kendall, and John Thornton Lorimer received the Distinguished Service Order and Edmund Goddard the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal . The commander of X8 , John Elliott Smart , was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). There was a possibility that X5 had also successfully planted explosive side charges before being destroyed, but this

630-533: The 1959 film The Giant Behemoth (a.k.a. Behemoth the Sea Monster ). This class of submarine was later featured in the 1968 movie Submarine X-1 starring James Caan as a Canadian Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officer who after losing his submarine and fifty crew members in a battle with a German ship during World War II, gets a second chance training crews to take part in a raid using midget subs. A 1976 Douglas Reeman novel, Surface with Daring , features

675-540: The 76 total hours at sea. The only remaining intact example of an X-Craft, X24, was transferred from HMS Dolphin , where she had been on display since 1981, to the Royal Navy Submarine Museum nearby in 1987. Operations continued in the Far East with the revised XE class submarines . The depot ship for X craft was HMS  Bonaventure . The numbering sequence of the X class began with X3 because

720-516: The American Omaha Beach . On the third night, they were due to go ashore off the Orne Estuary ( Sword Beach ), but by this stage fatigue (the crew and divers had been living on little more than benzedrine tablets) and the worsening weather caused Hudspeth to shorten the operation, returning to Dolphin on 21 January 1944. Hudspeth received a bar to his DSC . X20 and X23 , each with

765-461: The British Welman submarine . The detachable explosive charge was fitted to the nose of the submarine, while the forward section held the battery and a gyrocompass , the first to be fitted to a German midget submarine and considered essential for navigation if the craft was to operate submerged. Behind this was the control compartment with seats for the two-man crew arranged one behind the other on

810-484: The British X class boats, the Type XXVIIA was designed to carry explosive charges to be laid beneath enemy ships, but it was markedly smaller and had substantial differences from the X class. It dispensed with a dual diesel/electric propulsion system, relying instead solely on electrical power in the form of a 12- brake-horsepower (8.9  kW ) AEG torpedo motor, on the basis that since it would operate submerged there

855-557: The Type XXVII was the Type XXVIIB5, better known as the Seehund ("Seal") or Type 27. Seehund had a small sail midships with the air-intake mast, magnetic compass, periscope, and a clear dome which could survive depths of 45 meters (148 ft). The submarine's fixed 3-meter (9.8 ft) periscope incorporated lenses which let the commander check the sky above for aircraft before surfacing. The first contract for Seehund construction

900-528: The X-Craft itself was 600 nmi (1,100 km) surfaced and 80 nmi (150 km) at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged. The craft was about 51 ft (16 m) long, 5.5 ft (1.7 m) maximum diameter and displaced 27 long tons (27 t) surfaced and 30 long tons (30 t) submerged. Propulsion was by a 4-cylinder Gardner 4LK 42 hp diesel engine , converted from a type used in London buses and

945-411: The approach and escaped successfully, but the charges were placed under Bärenfels , a 7,569- gross register ton  (GRT) merchant vessel alongside the dock; the ship was sunk but the dock suffered only minor damage. On 11 September the operation was repeated by X24 ; this time she succeeded in sinking the dock. X-Craft were involved in the preparatory work for Overlord . Operation Postage Able

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990-804: The boats used by the French navy post-war, U-5622 , is preserved and on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Brest, France . U-5075 is on display at the United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum , part of the Massachusetts Military Research Center, in Quincy, Massachusetts . Occasional amateur radio events are conducted by this museum ship, using the callsign WW2MAN. In Germany, Seehunds are displayed at several museums,

1035-497: The centerline with the engineer in front and the commander behind him. The commander was provided with a periscope and a clear acrylic dome for navigational purposes. On 18 January 1944, Dönitz discussed the new design with Adolf Hitler who expressed his approval, and on 9 March contracts were placed with Germaniawerft of Kiel for construction of a prototype, followed by a further contract for 52 submarines on 28 March. The 53 Hechts were constructed between May and August 1944: in

1080-549: The company doubled its surface and new and large slips were constructed. In 1902 the company changed name and became the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft . In 1908, Germaniawerft built the schooner Germania for Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach , based on a design from Max Oertz . It was the first yacht of its size built in Germany. In the period preceding World War I , it also built a number of battleships for

1125-510: The designations X1 and X2 had already been used previously – X1 had been a one-off submarine cruiser design from the 1920s while X2 had been assigned to a captured Italian submarine. This type of midget submarine was portrayed in the 1955 war film, Above Us the Waves , featuring John Mills , which was based on both Operation Source and the earlier Chariot attacks on the Tirpitz . An X-class submarine – marked as "X2" – features in

1170-558: The event, none saw active service but were instead used to train Seehund crews. As the orders were being placed, Hecht variants were under construction. The first was the Type XXVIIB, which had a greater range, could carry two G7e(TIIIc) torpedoes , and had diesel/electric propulsion. The design was completed at the end of June 1944 and resembled Hecht but had a better boat-shaped external casing for improved seakeeping while surfaced, and saddle tanks. Additional room had been made inside

1215-566: The heavy German warships based at Kåfjord, Nordkapp in Northern Norway . Six X-Craft were used but only two successfully laid charges (under the German battleship Tirpitz ). Two were lost while being towed to Norway; X8 began taking water and was scuttled, and X9 sank with her crew after the towline parted. Only X6 and X7 , commanded by Lieutenant Donald Cameron and Lieutenant Godfrey Place respectively, were successful in placing their charges although their crews were captured (there

1260-659: The largest traditional sailing ship still afloat. During World War II , the Germaniawerft was one of the most important suppliers of the Kriegsmarine , because of its proximity to German naval facilities in Kiel. Over the course of the war, the company completed 131 U-boats (types II , VII , XB , XIV , XVII , and XXIII ). The Kriegsmarine had in total ordered 240 U-boats. In 1944, the shipyard had over 10,000 employees, of which roughly 11% were forced labourers . On 26 April 1945,

1305-420: The last U-boat built in the Germaniawerft was launched, U-4714 . The war ended before it could enter into service. The most famous U-boats built at the Germaniawerft are probably U-47 , which was commanded by Günther Prien during his sinking of HMS  Royal Oak in 1940, and U-96 , which formed the basis of Lothar-Günther Buchheim 's novel Das Boot . After the war, the partially ruined shipyard

1350-450: The pressure hull by moving the batteries to the keel, while the two torpedoes were mounted externally in recesses in the lower hull. A 22-brake-horsepower (16 kW) diesel engine was fitted for surface use and was estimated to give a surfaced speed of 5.5 knots (10.2 km/h; 6.3 mph), with a 25-brake-horsepower (19 kW) electric motor providing a submerged speed of 6.9 knots (12.8 km/h; 7.9 mph). The final variant of

1395-587: The production of the Type XXIII submarine being held up for Seehund construction, while shortages of raw material, labor and transport problems, and conflicting priorities in Germany's economy all combined to reduce Seehund production. In the end Seehund production was undertaken by Germaniawerft at Kiel in the Konrad bunker which was no longer needed for production of Type XXI or Type XXIII submarines. A total of 285 Seehunds were constructed and allocated numbers in

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1440-521: The range U-5001 to U-6442 . The first Seehund operation took place on 31 December 1944, when 18 craft set out from IJmuiden in the Netherlands. However, this was a disaster – the submarines encountered a storm and only two returned. The first sinking by a Seehund did not occur until February 1945, when a freighter was sunk off Great Yarmouth . Seehunds operated mainly around the German coast and in

1485-487: The sea bed and also with sonar and a periscope . A number of development craft were built before it was felt that a feasible weapon had been produced. The first operational craft was X3 (or HM S/M X.3), launched on the night of 15 March 1942. Training with the craft began in September 1942, with X4 arriving in October. In December 1942 and January 1943, six of the "5-10" class began to arrive, identical externally but with

1530-467: The towing submarine to the X-Craft by dinghy when the operational area was reached, and the passage crew returning with the dinghy to the towing submarine. Once the attack was over, the X-Craft would rendezvous with the towing submarine and then be towed home. Range was limited primarily by the endurance and determination of their crews, but was thought to be up to 14 days in the craft or 1,000 nmi (1,900 km), after suitable training. Actual range of

1575-655: The town of Gaarden, near Kiel . The idea of the company was to construct war and merchant ships . In 1876 the company built the personal yacht of Kaiser Wilhelm II , the SMY ; Hohenzollern . The company went bankrupt in 1879 and had to be sold and became property of the Märkisch-Schlesischen Maschinenbau und Hütten-Aktiengesellschaft . They had constructed steam engines in Berlin since 1822. A few years later this company also got in trouble and in late 1882

1620-600: The war to do any damage". The last Seehund sorties took place on 28 April and 2 May 1945, when two special missions were performed to resupply the besieged German garrison at Dunkirk with rations. The boats carried special food containers (nicknamed "butter torpedoes") instead of torpedoes, and on the return voyage used the containers to carry mail from the Dunkirk garrison. The French navy received four units as war reparations, and commissioned them as S 621 , S 622 , S 623 and S624 . They were used until August 1953. One of

1665-404: The weights could not be moved quickly enough, and hydroplanes and fins were subsequently fitted. Submerged control was still poor, since Hecht was not fitted with ballast tanks . Even though Hecht had been designed to transport an explosive charge, Karl Dönitz insisted that a torpedo be carried so that attacks could be carried out on vessels in coastal waters. Externally, Hecht resembled

1710-525: Was a German shipbuilding company, located in the harbour at Kiel , and one of the largest and most important builders of U-boats for the Kaiserliche Marine in World War I and the Kriegsmarine in World War II . The original company was founded in 1867 but went bankrupt and was bought out by Friedrich Krupp . Krupp was very interested in building warships and in the time before the First World War built

1755-420: Was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44. It was substantially larger than the original Chariot manned torpedo . Known individually as X-Craft , the vessels were designed to be towed to their intended area of operations by a full-size "mother" submarine – usually one of the T class or S class – with a passage crew on board, the operational crew being transferred from

1800-599: Was never conclusively proven; its commander Henty-Creer was not awarded a medal, but was mentioned in dispatches. The lost boats were replaced early in 1944 with X20 to X25 and six training-only craft. Submarines X20 to X25 were dispatched to Bergen , Norway. On 15 April 1944, in Operation Guidance X24 attacked the Laksevåg floating dock . X22 was intended for the mission, but had been accidentally rammed during training and sunk with all hands. X24 made

1845-447: Was no need for a diesel engine . However, this resulted in a very low endurance of 69 nautical miles (128 km; 79 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph). Since the boat would need to be able to pass through anti-submarine nets and similar obstacles, it was designed without hydroplanes or fins, her trim being controlled with adjustable weights within the pressure hull. In practice this proved totally ineffective since

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1890-411: Was placed on 30 July 1944, before the design was completed. A total of 1,000 boats were ordered, of which Germaniawerft and Schichau-Werke were to build 25 and 45 boats per month respectively. Other shipyards that were intended to participate in Seehund production were Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico at Monfalcone , Italy, and Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz at Ulm . However, Dönitz would not consent to

1935-487: Was planned to take surveys of the landing beaches with X20 , commanded by Lt KR Hudspeth, spending four days off the French coast. Periscope reconnaissance of the shoreline and echo-soundings were performed during daytime. Each night, X20 would approach the beach and 2 divers would swim ashore. Soil samples were collected in condoms . The divers went ashore on two nights to survey the beaches at Vierville-sur-Mer , Moulins St Laurent and Colleville-sur-Mer in what became

1980-681: Was recovered by the Royal Dutch Navy and a civilian salvage team lying buried beneath a beach at Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands , after having been run aground there by its crew in February 1945, and the remains are now on display at the IJmuiden bunker museum. Its two onboard torpedoes were found to be still active and their warheads were separated from their delivery systems and control-detonated at sea. X class submarine The X class

2025-626: Was specifically designated to oversee deployment of the Hecht miniature submarine while the Seehund submarines were dispersed between K-Flottille 312, 313, and 314. From the Allied point of view, the Seehund ' s small size made it almost impossible for Asdic to get a return from her hull, while her very quiet slow-speed running made her almost immune to detection by hydrophone . As Admiral Sir Charles Little , Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth , put it, "Fortunately for us these damn things arrived too late in

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