 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | X class |
| Operators |  Royal Navy |
| Preceded by | V class |
| Succeeded by | XE class |
| Subclasses | X3, X4, X5-10, X20-25, XT |
| Completed | 20 |
| Lost | 7 (5 scuttled, 1 foundered, 1 collision) |
| Preserved | 1 |
| General characteristics (X class) | |
| Type | midget submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 51.25 ft (15.62 m) |
| Beam | 5.75 ft (1.75 m) |
| Draught | 5.3 ft (1.60 m) |
| Propulsion | |
| Speed |
|
| Range |
|
| Test depth | 300 ft (91.5 m) |
| Complement | 4 |
| Armament | 2 × 4,400 lb detachableamatol charges |
TheX class was a World War II midget submarine class built for theRoyal Navy during 1943–44. It was substantially larger than the originalChariot manned torpedo.
Known individually asX-Craft, the vessels were designed to be towed to their intended area of operations by a full-size "mother" submarine – usually one of theT class orS class – with a passage crew on board, the operational crew being transferred from 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 the X-Craft itself was 600 nmi (1,100 km) surfaced and 80 nmi (150 km) at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged.[2]
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-cylinderGardner 4LK[1] 42hpdiesel engine, converted from a type used inLondon buses and a 30 hpelectric 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.[2] The crew initially numbered three – commander, pilot and ERA (Engine Room Artificer, i.e. engineer), but soon a specialistdiver was added, for whom anairlock, known as a "wet and dry" compartment, was provided. The ERA, usually a NavyChief 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 ofamatol in each. The intention was to drop these on the sea bed underneath the target and then escape. The charges weredetonated by a timefuse.[2] The craft were fitted with electromagnetic field generators to mask their inherent magnetic field to avoid detection by anti-submarine detectors on the sea bed and also withsonar and aperiscope.[2]
A number of development craft were built before it was felt that a feasible weapon had been produced. The first operational craft wasX3 (or HM S/M X.3), launched on the night of 15 March 1942. Training with the craft began in September 1942, withX4 arriving in October. In December 1942 and January 1943, six of the "5-10" class began to arrive, identical externally but with a completely reworked interior.
These operations were part of a longer series offrogman operations; seehuman torpedo.
The operational base and training establishment wasHMS Varbel at the former Kyles Hydro Hotel atPort Bannatyne on theIsle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland.
Their first deployment wasOperation Source in September, 1943, an attempt to neutralise the heavyGermanwarships based atKåfjord, Nordkapp in NorthernNorway. Six X-Craft were used but only two successfully laid charges (under theGerman battleshipTirpitz). 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. OnlyX6 andX7, commanded by LieutenantDonald Cameron and LieutenantGodfrey Place respectively, were successful in placing their charges although their crews were captured (there is some evidence thatX5 also placed her charges;[3]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 byAvro Lancaster bombers duringOperation Catechism in Tromsø, Norway.[4]
For this action, Cameron and Place were awarded theVictoria Cross, whilst Robert Aitken, Richard Haddon Kendall, and John Thornton Lorimer received theDistinguished Service Order and Edmund Goddard theConspicuous Gallantry Medal.[5] The commander ofX8,John Elliott Smart, was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[6] There was a possibility thatX5 had also successfully planted explosive side charges before being destroyed, but this was never conclusively proven; its commander Henty-Creer was not awarded a medal, but was mentioned in dispatches.[7][4]
The lost boats were replaced early in 1944 withX20 toX25 and six training-only craft.
SubmarinesX20 toX25 were dispatched toBergen, Norway. On 15 April 1944, inOperation GuidanceX24 attacked theLaksevågfloating dock.X22 was intended for the mission, but had been accidentally rammed during training and sunk with all hands.X24 made the approach and escaped successfully, but the charges were placed underBärenfels, 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 byX24; this time she succeeded in sinking the dock.[8]
X-Craft were involved in the preparatory work forOverlord.Operation Postage Able was planned to take surveys of the landing beaches withX20, commanded by Lt KR Hudspeth, spending four days off the French coast. Periscopereconnaissance 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 incondoms. The divers went ashore on two nights to survey the beaches atVierville-sur-Mer,Moulins St Laurent andColleville-sur-Mer in what became the AmericanOmaha Beach. On the third night, they were due to go ashore off theOrne Estuary (Sword Beach), but by this stage fatigue (the crew and divers had been living on little more thanbenzedrine tablets) and the worsening weather caused Hudspeth to shorten the operation, returning toDolphin on 21 January 1944. Hudspeth received a bar to hisDSC.
X20 andX23, each with a crew of five, acted as navigational beacons to help theD-Day invasion fleet land on the correct beaches (Operation Gambit), as part of theCombined 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 the 76 total hours at sea.[9][2]
The only remaining intact example of an X-Craft, X24, was transferred fromHMSDolphin, where she had been on display since 1981, to theRoyal Navy Submarine Museum nearby in 1987.[10] Operations continued in theFar East with the revisedXE class submarines.
The depot ship for X craft wasHMS Bonaventure.[19]
The numbering sequence of the X class began withX3 because the designationsX1 andX2 had already been used previously –X1 had been a one-offsubmarine cruiser design from the 1920s whileX2 had been assigned to a capturedItalian submarine.
This type of midget submarine was portrayed in the 1955 war film,Above Us the Waves, featuringJohn Mills, which was based on both Operation Source and the earlierChariot attacks on theTirpitz.
An X-class submarine – marked as "X2" – features in the 1959 filmThe Giant Behemoth (a.k.a.Behemoth the Sea Monster).
This class of submarine was later featured in the 1968 movieSubmarine X-1 starringJames Caan as a CanadianRoyal 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 1976Douglas Reeman novel,Surface with Daring, features a fictionalized account of X-class midget submarines, especially XE-16 and its crew, performing several highly secret operations in occupied Europe.[22]
A 2006Alexander Fullerton novel,The Gatecrashers, features a fictionalized account of X-class midget submarines, includingX-12 piloted by one of the protagonists, that lays explosive charges to damage theTirpitz.[23]
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