Midget submarine
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A midget submarine is a small submarine, typically with one or two crew and no on-board living accommodation. Midget submarines normally work with mother ships which they are launched and recovered from, and which provide living accommodation for the crew and other support.
Both military and civilian midget submarines have been built and operated. Military types have worked using both surface ships and submarines as mother ships. Civilian and non-combatant military types are generally referred to as submersibles, and normally work with surface ships.
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[edit] Military — World War II
[edit] Japan
Five Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines were used in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the only occasion on which the type 97 torpedo was used operationally. One of the five midget submarines was shot and sunk by the USS Ward as when it was spotted trying to enter Pearl Harbor. That midget submarine was located by NOAA's Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) in August 2002.
Photographic analysis conducted in 1999 by the United States Naval Institute indicates that one of the five Ko-hyoteki-class submarines managed to enter Pearl Harbor and successfully fired a torpedo into the USS West Virginia. The final disposition of this submarine is unknown. This conclusion is disputed by several noted historians on the Pearl Harbor Attacked Message Board (www.pearlharborattacked.com). This analysis is based solely on three splashes seen in a single aerial photo, which are claimed to be from the midgets propeller. Only one submarine is known to have penetrated the harbor and it fired its torpedoes at the USS Curtiss and USS Monaghan. Another sub fired its torpedoes at the USS St. Louis as she exited the harbor. The remaining three subs (the one captured, one found in 1960 and one found in 2003) had their torpedoes onboard when found. That accounts for the torpedoes of all five submarines, effectively proving that the photo interpretation is spurious. [1]
Another famous attack by midget submarines was launched by the Japanese Navy against Sydney, Australia, in 1942, this time using more conventional type 91 torpedoes. Of three midget submarines launched then, two were destroyed by harbour defences and recovered by Australian defenders; the third (M24) remains buried at sea; however it is believed to have since been uncovered[2]. A fourth intended to be part of the raid was damaged by an explosion soon after the mother ships left Truk and never launched; some accounts wrongly indicate it was launched and returned to rendezvous with the mother submarines.
The term midget submarine has also been applied to the Japanese Kaiten and Kairyu-class suicide weapons of World War II, which were both single-use munitions armed only with a fixed warhead. All five types of Kaiten were more accurately heavy torpedoes modified by the rough addition of a one or two person pilot's cabin. The Kairyu had conventional gasoline and electric propulsion, and is normally regarded as a proper midget submarine. Only the type 1 Kaiten and the Kairyu were produced in significant numbers, and only the type 1 Kaiten was used. It achieved little operational success.
The Kohyoteki-class submarine carried two light torpedoes in muzzle-loaded 17.7 inch torpedo tubes one above the other, and was intended to return to the mother ship for rearming and battery charging after these were fired. Its 35 kg fixed explosive charge was intended only for its own demolition to avoid capture. It also achieved little operational success.
[edit] Gallery
[edit] Nations
[edit] British
The Royal Navy also used a number of midget submarines.
[edit] X class
The first group (known as the X class) were used to attack German warships in the North of Norway. A particular target of a successful attack was the battleship Tirpitz. They had a crew of three and carried two large mines, one each side. The idea was to lay the mines on the sea bottom underneath the target, set a time fuse and depart.
[edit] XE class
The later XE class were used in the Far East and a number of attacks and special missions were carried out.
[edit] Welman class
The British also developed the Welman class a single person submarine which is widely considered to have been a failure.
[edit] German
# These links are to a 1/35 model, but they contain useful information about the real working wartime submarines.
[edit] The Molch
[edit] The Seehund
[edit] The Biber
The Biber were used against the D-Day invasion fleet, but do not seem to have achieved very much