X-Craft: British Submarines

An X-craft underway. This is X-25 which wasn't involved in COPP operations, but this image gives an indication of the size of an X-craft. Imperial War Museum A 22900.

The X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44.

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 the towing submarine to the X-Craft by dinghy when the operational area was reached, 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 1,500 miles (2,400 km) distance after suitable training. Actual range of the X-Craft itself was 500 nmi (930 km) surfaced and 82 nmi (152 km) at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged.

The craft was about 51 feet (15.5 m) long, 5.5 feet (1.68 m) in maximum diameter and displaced 27 tons surfaced and 30 tons submerged. Propulsion was by a 4-cylinder Gardner 4LK 42 hp diesel engine, converted from a type used in London buses, and a 30 hp electric motor, giving a maximum surface speed of 6.5 knots (12 km/h), and a submerged speed of 5.5 knots (10.1 km/h). The crew initially numbered three—commander, pilot and ERA (Engine Room Artificer, i.e. engineer) but soon a specialist diver was added, for which an airlock, known as a wet and dry compartment, was provided. The ERA, usually a Navy Chief Petty Officer, operated most of, and maintained all of, 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 electro-magnets to evade detection by anti-submarine detectors on the sea bed.

A number of development craft were built before it was felt that a realistic weapon had been produced. The first operational craft was HMS X3 (or HM S/M X.3), launched on the night of March 15, 1942. Training with the craft began in September 1942, with HMS X4 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 of frogman operations, see human torpedo.

Their first deployment was Operation Source in September, 1943, an attempt to neutralize the heavy German warships based in Northern Norway. Six X-Craft were used, but only two successfully laid charges (under the German battleship Tirpitz); the rest were lost, scuttled or returned to base. Tirpitz was badly damaged and out of action until April 1944.

This was the only multiple X-craft attack. The lost craft were replaced early in 1944 with X20 to X25 and six training-only craft.

On April 15, 1944 HMS X24 attacked the Laksevåg floating dock at Bergen. X22 was intended for the mission, but had been accidentally rammed during training and sunk with all hands. The X24 made the approach and escaped successfully, but the charges were placed under Bärenfels, a 7,500 ton merchant-vessel along the dock, which was sunk; the dock suffered only minor damage. On September 11, 1944, the operation was repeated by X24, with a new crew; this time the dock was sunk.

X-Craft were involved in the preparatory work for Overlord. Operation Postage Able was planned to take surveys of the landing beaches with HMS 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 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 acted as lightships to help the D-Day invasion fleet land on the correct beaches (Operation Gambit), as part of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP).

X24 is the only remaining intact example of an X-Craft. It can be found in the Royal Navy Submarine Museum.

Operations continued in the Far East with the revised XE class submarines.

X-craft and Crews

X3: Was lost on 4 November 1942 in Loch Striven due to a leaking engine valve. All crew escaped by utilizing their Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus.

X5: Unofficially named Platypus, commanded by Lt. Henty-Creer RNVR (also the operation's commander), crew S-Lt. Nelson, Midshipman Malcolm, and ERA Mortiboys; passage crew Lt Terry-Lloyd (commanding), L/S Element, Stoker Garrity. Henty-Creer, Nelson, Malcolm, and Mortiboys were killed in the attack, though X5's exact fate is unknown.

X6: Named Piker II, commanded by Lt. Donald Cameron, crew Lt. J. T. Lorimer, S-Lt. R. Kendall, and ERA Goddard; passage crew Lt Wilson (commanding), Leading Seaman McGregor, Stoker Oxley. Cameron earned a VC, Lorimer and Kendall DSOs, Goddard a Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.

X7: Unofficially named Pdinichthys, commanded by Lt. Basil C. G. Place, crew S-Lt. R. Aitken, Lt. Whittam, and ERA Whiteley; passage crew Lt Philip (commanding), Leading Seaman J. Magennis, Stoker Luck. Vessel was scuttled immediately following the Tirpitz attack, but only Place escaped before she sank. Aitken escaped from the bottom of the fjord, but Whittam and Whiteley were unable to escape before their air gave out. Place also earned a VC, Aitken a DSO, while Philip earned an MBE;

X8: Commanded by Lt. McFarlane RAN (Lt. Smart was passage crew commander)

X9: Commanded by Lt. E. A. Kearon RNVR; A.H. Harte (Able Seaman) and G. H. Hollet (Stoker). Foundered on 16 September 1942 while under tow from the SYRTIS. X9 was unofficially named Pluto

X10: Unofficially named Excalibur, commanded by Lt. Hudspeth RANVR

Builders

The numbering sequence of the X class began with X3 because 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.

Prototypes

X3: Built by Varley Marine, Hamble, scrapped 1945

X4: Built by Portsmouth Dockyard, scrapped 1945

X5-type

X5: Built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness, used in Operation Source, sunk Altenfjord 22 September 1943

X6: Built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, scuttled Altenfjord 22 September 1943

X7: Built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, scuttled Altenfjord 22 September 1943, salved 1976 for museum restoration

X8: Built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, scuttled in North Sea 17 September 1943

X9: Built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, foundered under tow in North Sea 16 September 1943 with all hands

X10: Built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, scuttled in North Sea 3 October 1943

X20-type

X20: Built by Broadbent, Huddersfield, used in Operation Gambit

X21: Built by Broadbent

X22: Built by Markham & Co., Chesterfield, collided with HMS Syrtis and lost with all hands while training February 7, 1944

X23: Built by Markham, used in Operation Gambit, sold 1945

X24: Built by Marshall, Gainsborough, attacked Laksevåg floating dry dock at Bergen, hulked 1945

X25: Built by Marshall, sold 1945

Training Craft

XT1: Built by Vickers, scrapped 1945

XT2: Built by Vickers, scrapped 1945

XT3: Built by Vickers, scrapped 1945

XT4: Built by Vickers, scrapped 1945

XT5: Built by Vickers, scrapped 1945

XT6: Built by Vickers, scrapped 1945

Survivors

X24: The only one to have seen service and survive is at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport

The remains of two XT-class craft are present on the beach at Aberlady Bay in East Lothian, Scotland. They were towed there in 1946 and moored to a large concrete block at the low tide level and were used as targets for aircraft. Much of the structure remains, semi-submerged in the sand, and can be reached at low spring tides.

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.

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.

 

X-Craft X-25 underway in Loch Striven, near Rothesay with Lieut J.E. Smart, RNVR, the Commanding Officer on deck by the conning tower. Imperial War Museum A 22903.

Sub Lieutenant K.C.J. Robinson, RNVR, of Crosby, Liverpool, a Commanding Officer in an X-craft at the periscope whilst sailing in Rothesay Bay. Imperial War Museum A 26932.

Dressed only in shorts and gym shoes, a stoker of a midget submarine (otherwise known as X Craft) tends his engines. The submarine was one of the British Pacific Submarine Fleet based out of Sydney, Australia. XE4 in the Pacific Ocean aboard Bonaventure, April 1945. Stoker Gillard RN, holds the decompression lever, used when hand-starting the Gardner 4Hk diesel engine. The 30 horsepower main electric motor always started the engine. 'Gozo' was the favorite name for the diesel. 'Gozo' was in X24 and 'Gozo II' was in XE4. In the right foreground is part of the master gyro compass. Imperial War Museum A 30567.

Stripped to the waist and framed in gauges and controls, one of the crew of a midget submarine at his action station. The submarine (also known as an X Craft) was one of the British Pacific Submarine Fleet based out of Sydney, Australia. Imperial War Museum A 30568.

Prototype midget submarine X-3 or X-4 gets underway during trials in 1942.

A prototype X-craft churns along during trials.

This X-craft submarine of the British Royal Navy plies the waters of the harbor at Sydney, Australia, in 1945.

Sub Lieutenant K.C.J. Robinson, RNVR, of Crosby, Liverpool, a Commanding Officer in an X-craft at the Hydroplane controls whilst sailing in Rothesay Bay. Imperial War Museum A 26933.

An X craft midget submarine under construction.

An X craft midget submarine under construction.

X-21 nearing completion in Broadbent's yard in Huddersfield without any visible COPP modifications.

A midget submarine (X-23?) in the background in the UNDEX yard, July 1945. Imperial War Museum A 29730.

Royal Navy Reserve Lt. Donald Cameron and the crew of the X-6, one of the midget submarines that made a successful attack on the Tirpitz at Alten Fjord, on the deck of a ship. The X-6 did the most damage. Imperial War Museum.

Test tank model for X-3. Imperial War Museum MOD 958.

View of one of the side cargoes containing the explosives (Amatex). The side cargo was screwed on the craft and released by unscrewing the holding bolt by turning a wheel in the control room of the X craft.

X-5 (X craft) onboard the depot ship, HMS Bonaventure.

The control room of an X craft.

XE4 and improved X Class midget submarine of the type used by Lt. Fraser in the attack on the Takao in Singapore Harbor.

The control room of an X craft looking aft. The helmsman can be seen to the left. XE4 looking aft from the diver's compartment. Helmsman E.R.A. Shepherd RN, in the left foreground. Right aft in poor light is planesman Spree, RN. He controls submarine depth with hydroplanes (horizontal rudders) and pump, to move water in, out, forward or aft. Engine and main motor are further aft of a white timber bulkhead. Extreme right foreground is the chart table. April 1945.

In April 1945, XE4 and XE1-6 were aboard HMS Bonaventure bound for Brisbane and later to Brunei Bay. Max Shean was CO of XE4. Looking forward in XE4, Stoker Gillard RN, in the steering position. Periscope in lowered position on extreme right. The two circular doors, when shut, form the diver's exit and re-entry chamber. Further forward are the batteries, beneath wooden boards. In front of the helmsman is the gyrocompass repeater. Above the wheel against the cylindrical pressure hull, are the main ballast tank vent valves, which are opened to submerge. Imperial War Museum A 30570.

X-5 being towed out of Loch Cairnbawn by HMS Thrasher (to the left) at the beginning of Operation "Source" 11 September 1943. X-5 disappeared during the attack against the German battleship Tirpitz, 22 September 1943.

X-5 onboard the depot ship HMS Bonaventure before the attack on the Tirpitz.

Aerial view of Altenfjord and Kåfjord, showing Tirpitz (arrow) and the approximate route (white line) taken by X-5, X-6 and X-7.

Taken shortly after the attack showing Tirpitz and other German vessels in Kåfjord and Altenfjord. Note the oil slicks in the water. The arrow points to Tirpitz. In September and October 1943, the German battleship Tirpitz was photographed by three members of 543 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU), RAF, while lying in Alten Fiord, prior and subsequent to its attack by midget submarines of the Royal Navy on 22 September 1943. Included among the ships faintly visible in this image are Tirpitz, four destroyers, Altmark, Neumark, a small vessel, Harald Harfagre and C A Larsen. The latter two were requisitioned Norwegian warships which were added to the German war effort. The photographer, 405595 Flying Officer (FO) John H Dixon, a member of the RAAF, flew with this unit based in northern Russia monitoring the movements of these and other ships which formed a larger enemy battle group posing a major threat to allied convoys. For his wartime service, FO Dixon later received the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).

An X craft on the surface during training.

Five of the X craft officers involved in Operation Source (l-r) Lt T L Martin, Lt K R Hudspeth RANVR, Lt B McFarlane RAN, Lt Godfrey Place and Lt D Cameron RNR.

An aerial reconnaissance photograph of Alten Fjord showing the German battleship Tirpitz at her anchorage where the Tirpitz was attacked and damaged by British midget submarines. Note the L shaped torpedo net around the ship.

HMS Truculent, one of the conventional submarines that towed the X craft across the North Sea for the attack. Imperial War Museum FL 8671.

Lt. Basil Godfrey Place was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during Operation Source. Imperial War Museum.

X craft of the type used in the raid on Tirpitz.

An X5 Class midget submarine being "launched" into Buccleuch Dock.

Passage at Kaa Fjord.

Laying of charges by X6 and X7.

Overview of the X-craft modifications for COPP operations.

X5-X10 series X craft.

British Commandos were among the crews of X-craft submarines to help guide the Allied armada to the D-day beaches of Normandy.

X-23 on D-Day with one of the buoyancy chambers clearly visible. Imperial War Museum ADM 1260.

Edmund Goddard, one of the heroes of the 1943 raid on the Tirpitz, is pictured after the war at the Submarine Museum at Gosport before the only surviving X-craft Midget sub.

X24 on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. Rob Crane 2012.

Looking down on X-24. The hatch to the “wet and dry” compartment is in the middle of the photo. Rob Crane 2012.

Inside X-24. The entrance to the “wet and dry” compartment is visible at the far end. Rob Crane 2012.

Engine of the X-24 X-craft midget submarine.

Painting of an X-craft attacking the Tirpitz.

Admiral Sir John Eccles, Commander in Chief Home Fleet, boarding X craft Minnow which is alongside another vessel at Portland. Imperial War Museum FL 21832.

X-craft in Kames Bay, with the town of Rothesay behind.

X-craft departing from Loch Cairnbawn, 11 September 1943.

X7 crews. Standing, from left, Sub Lieutenant Robert Aitken, RNVR, Lieutenant Godfrey Place DSC, Sub Lieutenant Bill Whittam, RNVR, Lieutenant Peter Philip SANF. Front row, from left: Able Seaman James Mageniss, Stoker John Luck, ERA Bill Whitley.

Lieutenant Henty-Creer, RNVR and the crew of X5, one of the midget submarines that made a successful attack on the Tirpitz at Alten Fjord, on the deck of a ship.

X craft in Loch Striven.

An X craft seen from below. The two side cargoes contain the explosives.

Port side of an X craft. To the left the air induction mast can be seen.

Use of the periscope of an X craft.

HMS Bonaventure with three U.S. Navy submarines and XE4 in Sydney Harbour, after the Japanese surrender, September 1945.

One of the set-backs of cable-cutting trials, July 1945. In Hervey Bay, Queensland, XE3 prepares for trials. First Lieutenant David Carey, working forward, launches a 'reef anchor' type grapnel with marker buoy attached. The buoy is astern of XE3. The shorter man amidships is CO Ian Fraser RNR and ERA (Engine Room Artificer) Reid RN, is further aft, holding the induction trunk, which admits air for the engine. This grapnel failed to snag the old cable on which all trials were carried out. Just after this photograph was taken David who was an experienced diver, exited the submerged submarine to swim alongside the grapnel to observe why it was ineffective. He swam to the short periscope (near Ian's left foot), signaled 'thumbs down' and was not seen again. About the same time during these trials, the same happened to Lieutenant Bruce Enzer RNVR, another good diver who was also testing the grapnel. Fortunately XE4's grapnel (which I had designed) worked well and caught both cables off the Vietnam coast.

XE4 being launched from HMS Bonaventure in Brunei Bay, Borneo, ready to go to French Indochina (modern Vietnam) to cut the Japanese submarine telegraph cables. 28 July 1945. On deck, Stoker Bill Butters RN, and First Lieutenant Ben Kelly RNVR. Note the port side charge, containing 2 tons of explosives or six x 200 pound limpets. There is another on starboard side. We did not use explosive on cables, but a hydraulically powered cutter. Victor Spree RN, electrical artificer has his head out of the main hatch. The cable cutting operation on 31 July 1945 was a complete success, with no injury (except to the cables) and no defects.

X5 Class midget submarine.

X craft in the Forth and Clyde Canal near Falkirk.

Passage route for midget submarines September 1943.

The fate of X7.

Godfrey Place and Sir John Smyth presenting a gift to the Queen, on the occasion of her fiftieth birthday, April 1976, Windsor Castle.

Godfrey Place VC.

Godfrey Place with Joe Lynch GC, and the Prince of Wales, Savoy Hotel, London, 1981.

A hand-held, hydraulically powered, net cutter of the type used by X boat divers to cut through torpedo nets protecting harbors.

The remains of an XT-class craft on the beach at Aberlady Bay in 2008. The bow is to the left, the stern to the right. From left to right can be seen the wet and dry chamber hatch, the "conning tower" (the periscopes penetrated the hull through the "eye" shape) and the secondary hatch.

Interior of an X-craft (X24) on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum.