The attacks took place in September 1943 atKåfjord and succeeded in keepingTirpitz out of action for at least six months. The concept for the attack was developed by Commander Cromwell-Varley, with support of Max Horton, Flag Officer Submarines, and Prime MinisterWinston Churchill.[2]On September 12, 1943, in conditions of low clouds and rain, Soviet pilot Leonid Elkin found theTirpitz anchorage in Altenfjord, descended under the edge of the clouds and passed above it three times under heavy anti-aircraft fire at an altitude of 50 meters, achieving high-quality photography of the target. The resulting photographs were immediately transferred to the British Admiralty, which, based on them, prepared a new operation.[3]
The operation was directed fromRoyal Navyshore establishmentHMSVarbel, located inPort Bannatyne on theIsle of Bute.Varbel (named after Commanders Varley and Bell, designers of the X-Craft prototype) was the headquarters for the 12th Submarine Flotilla (midget submarines). It had been the Kyles Hydropathic Hotel, a luxury 88-bedroom hotel, and had been requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as the flotilla's headquarters. All X-craft training and preparation for X-craft attacks was co-ordinated fromVarbel.[4]
Intelligence contributing to the attack onTirpitz was collected and sent to the Royal Navy by the Norwegian resistance, especially brothers Torbjørn Johansen andEinar Johansen.
Six X-craft were used.X5,X6 andX7 were allocated the battleshipTirpitz, inKåfjord.X9 andX10 were to attack the battleshipScharnhorst, also in Kåfjord.X8 was to attack the heavy cruiserLützow inLangfjord.The submersibles were towed to the area by conventional submarines (HMSTruculent (X6)[5]Syrtis (X9),[5]Sea Nymph (X8),[6]Thrasher (X5),[7]Stubborn (X7),[6] andSceptre (X10)[6]) and manned by passage crews on the way. Close to the target, the operation crews would take over.
X9, probably trimmed heavily by the bow in the heavy sea for the tow, was lost with all three crew on the passage when her tow parted and she suffered an abrupt plunge due to her bow-down trim.[6][Note 1]X8 (passage crew commanded by LieutenantJack Smart) developed serious leaks in her side-mounted demolition charges, which had to be jettisoned; these exploded, leaving her so damaged she had to bescuttled.[6]
The remaining X-craft began their run in on 20 September, and the attacks took place on 22 September 1943 starting at 7:00 pm (1900 hours) that evening.Scharnhorst was engaged in exercises at the time, and hence was not at her normal mooring,X10's attack was abandoned due to mechanical and navigation problems, and the submarine returned to rendezvous with her 'tug' submarine.X10 was scuttled on the way back to Scotland when the tow rope broke.[12]
Lt. Henty-Creer and the crew ofX5
X5, commanded by Lieutenant Henty-Creer, disappeared with her crew during Source. She is believed to have been sunk by a direct hit from one ofTirpitz's 105-millimetre (4.1 in) guns before placing demolition charges. There was a possibilityX5 had also successfully planted side charges before being destroyed, but this was never conclusively proven.[13][14] An expedition jointly run by the late Carl Spencer (Britannic 2003), Bill Smith (Bluebird Project) and the Royal Navy using the mine huntersHMS Quorn andHMS Blyth in 2006 mapped the north and south anchorages used byTirpitz and proved the charge was well inside the net enclosure of the north anchorage and therefore most likely fromX6.[15]
X6 andX7 managed to drop their charges underTirpitz, but were unable to escape as they were observed and attacked. Both were abandoned and six crewmen captured. Upon capture, the crewmen informed the German captain Hans Meyer that there would be explosions underTirpitz within an hour. Meyer quickly attempted to move the ship away from the charges, but was unable to do so before the charges exploded.[16]
Tirpitz was heavily damaged. While not in danger of sinking, she took on over 1,400 tons[17] of water and suffered significant mechanical damage.[17] The first mine exploded abreast of turret Caesar, and the second mine detonated 45 to 55 m (148 to 180 ft) off the port bow.[18][citation needed] A fuel oil tank was ruptured, shell plating was torn, a large indentation was made in the bottom of the ship, and bulkheads in thedouble bottom buckled. Some 1,430 t (1,410 long tons) of water flooded the ship in fuel tanks and void spaces in the double bottom of the port side, which caused alist of one to two degrees, which was balanced by counter-flooding on the starboard side. The flooding damaged all of the turbo-generators in generator room No. 2, and all apart from one generator in generator room No. 1 were disabled by broken steam lines or severed power cables. Turret Dora was thrown from its bearings and could not be rotated; this was particularly significant, as there were no heavy-lift cranes in Norway powerful enough to lift the turret and place it back on its bearings.[19][citation needed] The ship's twoArado Ar 196 floatplanes were thrown by the explosive concussion and completely destroyed.
Repairs were conducted by the repair shipNeumark; historians William Garzke and Robert Dulin remarked that the successful repair effort was "one of the most notable feats of naval engineering during the Second World War."[20][citation needed] Repairs lasted until 2 April 1944; full-speed trials were scheduled for the following day in Altafjord.[21][citation needed]
The grave of Lieutenant Lionel Barnett Whittam at the Commonwealth War Graves section ofTromsø's main cemetery
X-5: Unofficially namedPlatypus,[22] Passage crew Lt Terry-Lloyd, L. Seaman Element and Stoker (1st Class) Garrity, operational crew Lt Henty-Creer, Sub-Lt Malcolm, Sub-Lt Nelson and ER Artificer (Engine Room Artificer, i.e. engineer) Mortiboys.[23] Henty-Creer, Nelson, Malcolm, and Mortiboys were killed in the attack, thoughX-5's exact fate is unknown.[5]
X-7: Unofficially namedPdinichthys,[24] Passage crew Lt Philip, Able SeamanJames Joseph Magennis and Stoker (1st Class) Luck, operational crew LtGodfrey Place, Sub-Lt Whittam, Sub-Lt Aitken and ER Artificer Whitley.[23] Place also earned a VC, Aitken the DSO, while Philip was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE); Whittam and Whitley were killed as they were unable to exit the craft when it sank.[25]
X-8: Passage crew Lt Smart, L. Seaman Pomeroy and Stoker (1st Class) Robinson, operational crew Lt McFarlane, Lt Marsden, Sub-Lt Hindmarsh and ER Artificer Murray.[23] X-8 was scuttled on 18 September 1943,[11] after being verified she could now serve no useful purpose in the operation due to water leaking into the side charges.
X-9: Passage crew Sub-Lt Edward Kearon, Able Seaman Harry Harte and Stoker George Hollett, operational crew Lt Martin, Sub-Lt Brooks, Lt Shean and ER Artificer Coles.[23] Kearon, Harte and Hollet died when it foundered on 16 September 1943 after the tow rope parted.[11]
X-10: Unofficially namedExcalibur. Passage crew Sub-Lt Page, Petty Officer Brookes and ER Artificer Fishleigh, operational crew Lt Hudspeth, Sub-Lt Enzer, Sub-Lt Harding and ER Artificer Tilley.[23] X-10 was scuttled on 23 September 1943 (after rendezvousing with her parent submarine and recovering the crew), because the chances of her being able to be towed home in a heavy gale were very slight.[11]
^Кикнадзе В. Г. Международное сотрудничество в области освещения обстановки в Арктике (по опыту второй мировой войны). // Военно-исторический журнал. — 2014. — № 12. — С.42. (Kiknadze V. G. International cooperation in the field of covering the situation in the Arctic (based on the experience of the Second World War). // Military historical magazine. - 2014. - No. 12. - P.42.)
Garzke, William H.; Dulin, Robert O. (1985).Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN978-0-87021-101-0.
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