- British commando frogmen
Britain's commando frogman force is now the SBS, which is part of the
Royal Marines . They perform various operations on land as well as in the water.Until the late 1990's, all members of the
Special Air Service (SAS) Boat Troops were trained as commando frogmen.For other nations' commando frogmen, and information about frogmen in general, see
frogman .Great Britain began using commando frogmen in WWII.History
Before 1942
In 1909 the British designer Commander Godfrey Herbert received a patent for a manned torpedo. During
World War I , it was rejected by the War Office as impracticable and unsafe. Manned torpedos were first used against Britain in 1941 and latter 1942 when Italian commando frogmen, some riding manned torpedoes, attacked British naval bases atMalta ,Gibraltar andAlexandria . Several of these frogmen and their equipment were captured, inspiring theRoyal Navy to create their own program. (Fictionalised in the filmThe Silent Enemy (film) - [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052197/ IMDB entry] )1942
*April: The British Navy formed the "Experimental Submarine Flotilla", initially based at
Portsmouth . It was led by Commanders G.M.Sladen and W.R. "Tiny" Fell, who began to train frogmen in secret. The Navy called theirmanned torpedo es Chariots. Many of their frogmen's breathing sets' oxygen cylinders were German pilot's oxygen cylinders recovered from shot-down GermanLuftwaffe planes. Those first breathing sets may have been modified Davis Submarine Escape Sets; their fullface masks were the type intended for theSiebe Gorman Salvus . But in later operations different designs were used, leading to a fullface mask with one big face window. One version had a flip-up single window for both eyes to let the user getbinoculars to his eyes when on the surface. They used bulky thick diving suits calledSladen suit s.
** [http://www.edencamp.co.uk/hut31/Image6.gifThis link] shows a British wartime chariot team on the surface.
*1942 June: The Experimental Submarine Flotilla moved to "Port D" onLoch Erisort in Scotland [http://www.hebrideanconnections.com/Details.aspx?subjectid=38913&relationship=associated~with~location%E2%80%A6&caller=38002] . They got their first powered manned torpedoes, the "Mark I Chariot". Its hull was 21 inch diameter. It could make 2.9 knots and could dive safely to 20 feet depth. The nose was awarhead with 600 pounds of high explosive. Training was hard. The men often suffered fromoxygen poisoning because of the use of pure oxygen at depth, bursteardrum s and sinus trouble. The strangeness of the Chariots added to their problems. They were trained to ride and steer for a long time under water, and to then cut through harbor defence nets. The hardest part was learning to work with the Chariots' warheads.
*August: The British charioteers went back to Base HHZ onLoch Cairnbawn in Scotland to train to attack bigger better-defended places. One died in training.
*September: The Norwegian Navy officerLeif Larsen told the British Navy that he wanted to attack the German battleship "Tirpitz" inAsenfjord , a branch of theTrondheimfjord inNorway .
*Operation "Title":-
**26 October: The fishing boat "Arthur" operated by three Norwegians left Britain with seven British frogmen and two chariots hidden aboard.
**28 October: "Arthur" reached Norway's coast nearEdøy .
**30 October: "Arthur" unloaded the chariots and began to tow them to the target.
** 31 October: A storm broke the fastening bolts of the chariots, which were lost. The attack was called off.
** 1 November: The "Arthur" was scuttled atBreivik . The ten members of the operation set off for Sweden in two groups. Nine reached Sweden; Germans captured one and later shot him as a spy.
***This operation was later portrayed in the 1955 war film, "Above Us the Waves", featuringJohn Mills , which was based on Operation Title and the later "Operation Source " X-Craft midget submarine attacks on the "Tirpitz".
*late November: Britain sent 26 Chariots toMalta , and they became part of the "Tenth Submarine Flotilla". Three submarines received containers on their decks to carry the Chariots.
*Operation "Principle":-
**28 November: The British submarine "P-311" carrying 3 Chariots and 10 Charioteers leftMarsamxett onMalta to attackLa Maddalena onSardinia , but struck anaval mine near Sardinia and sank with all hands.
**30 November: The British submarines "Thunderbolt", and "Trooper", and "Unruffled" (P46), left Malta carrying Chariots.
*7 December after dark:Operation Frankton . 10 British naval frogmen left asubmarine on 5 two-seaterkayak s and went up theGironde to blow up ships inBordeaux port. In 11 December-12 night, two boats were sunk and three seriously damaged. Only 2 of the frogmen came back to England. The others were captured directly, or denounced by, French, and finally shot by the Germans.
*After December 17: First "known" British frogman use ofswimfin s, rather than aSladen suit and weighted boots riding a Chariot, was by British Clearance Divers; this is described inClearance diver#Britain .1943
*Operation "Principal":-
**3 January: The submarines HMS "Thunderbolt" and HMS "P311" carrying two chariots each and HMS "Trooper" carrying three, with their respective crews, left to carry out this operation, the first by Britain involving the use of chariots. "P311" was scheduled to attack targets at La Maddalena, while the other two submarines headed for the coast ofSicily nearPalermo in a Force 5 wind.
**One of the chariots which the "Trooper" carried, was ridden by Sub-Lieutenant Rodney Dove and Leading Seaman Jimmy Freel. As it was launched, a big wave washed it over the submarine, causing the loss of its limpet mines and the gear to attach the warhead to a ship.
**The chariots put mines on ships and patrol boats and sank some of them, but none of the mines exploded.
**One chariot put its warhead on the Italian cruiser "Ulpio Traiano" (under construction), and afterwards smaller explosives on four ships. "Ulpio Traiano" sank.
**Dove's chariot (Chariot XVI) put its warhead on the Italian troop ship "Viminale" (formerly a liner), by tying it to thesternpost with ropes, causing severe damage but not sinking it. While being towed from the harbour for repairs, it was torpedoed by a British submarine and damaged again. Later in the year, while en route for repairs for the second attack, it was sunk by American torpedo boats.
**Because of bad weather two chariots did not reach the harbour.
**All the chariots were lost; either scuttled, through equipment malfunction or human error. One charioteer died in the attack. The British submarine "Unruffled" recovered two others. Five had to land and were taken prisoner. Two of these prisoners later escaped from guards in Rome and hid in the Vatican until the Americans liberated Rome in 1944. Two others, involved in a quite separate operation,see below escaped from guards in Libya. In the middle ofTripoli they found a British Army unit and were returned to England.
**Dove ended up in aPOW camp at Bremen in Germany, and got home in May 1945. He received the DSO. He died on 30 October 2005 aged 84: [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/20/db2001.xml obituary] .
*This left eight charioteers with two Chariots on Malta.
*18 January-19: These two chariots were carried by submarines to attack ships that the Germans were going to be used to blockTripoli harbour. The frogmen arrived too late and a blockship was sunk in the harbour mouth. None of the men or chariots returned to Malta.
*January: At Loch Corrie and Loch Cairnbawn in Scotland more charioteers were being trained.
*16 April: Britain sent 14 new charioteers to Malta. In the days following they sent the new Chariot Mark II, also called the "Terry". Its riders sat back to back. It could manage 4.5 knots . The warhead was 1100 pounds ofTorpex high explosive.
*June: During this month, the British submarineHMS Unseen carried three chariots from Malta to Sicily. The divers surveyed 100 miles of coast, examining beaches to find dangers for armies who would be landing there later.
*11 June: The other British charioteers went to Loch Cairnbawn.
*Late June: Britain sent six more charioteers to Malta, for an operation to attackTaranto .
*25 June: "Mussolini was replaced byPietro Badoglio as the head of the Italian government." As a result, the attack onTaranto was called off, and the British frogmen were all sent toScotland . After this, there was only one British chariot attack in the Mediterranean.
*July: At Loch Cairnbawn a charioteer died through an accident.
*20 September: The British midget submarines known asX-craft set out to attack the German "Tirpitz" and the "Scharnhorst" in Kåfjord inNorway . The "Scharnhorst" was absent but the "Tirpitz" was damaged in the attack.
*24 September: Britain sent 4 chariots and 12 charioteers from their Scottish base toLunna Voe in theShetland s to train in for operations among the Norwegian islands.
*14 October: A British torpedo boat carrying two chariots and four charioteers sailed from Lunna Voe toTevik Bay in Norway and put on land a man called Job to wait until a German ship came, but German aircraft found the torpedo boat and attacked. The torpedo boat had to flee to Britain badly damaged, and it landed atDunbar in Scotland. Four days later another torpedo boat brought Job back to Shetland.
*October or November: A British torpedo boat carrying two chariots and four charioteers went from Lunna Voe to Nordfjord in Norway and set on land a man to wait until a German ship came. In two days no German ship came, the boat went back to Shetland.
*11 November: A British torpedo boat carrying two chariots and four charioteers sailed fromLunna Voe to Tevik Bay in Norway and set on land a man to wait until a German ship came toAskvoll harbor. In two days no German ship came. It snowed, and they thought that Askvoll harbor would be blocked with ice. As the torpedo boat returned to Shetland it ditched the chariots because of bad weather, and it brought the charioteers back.
*31 October: "On this day or earlier British and American forces enteredNaples ."
*October or November: British frogmen went toBrindisi in Italy where they were combined with those Italian frogmen who were in the Allied-controlled areas and those Italian frogmen who had been prisoners in Britain, as a single organization.1944
:"For more information about the X-craft operations, see
X class submarine ."
*15 April:X-craft attacked the floating dockLaksevåg at Bergen inNorway , but sank a cargo ship by mistake instead.
*May: 14 British charioteers were sent toTrincomalee inSri Lanka .
*In the run up to the Normandy landings British Chariots were used to survey the seabed along Normandy's coast in preparation for the troop landings.
*2 June: After the Italians had left the Axis, the Italian destroyer "Grecale" sailed fromBastia inCorsica toLa Spezia carrying three speedboats, and Italian frogmen includingLuigi Durand De La Penne , and two British chariots, to attack the Italian cruisers "Bolzano" and "Gorizia", which had been taken by the Germans after the Italian surrender. The "Grecale" launched the boats, which then carried the chariots and their charioteers and released them three miles from La Spezia harbor. One chariot began to leak from its float tank and had to be abandoned, but the others sank the "Bolzano". This thwarted a German plan to sink the "Bolzano" and the "Gorizia" where they would block the harbor entrance. The charioteers did not manage to rendezvous with the motor boats but got ashore and met up with Italian partisans. In August one successfully crossed theArno to reach the Allies, but the other three were captured trying to do the same.
*6 June:Operation Overlord ("D-day"). British frogmen (not using Chariots) demolished many beach obstacles that Germans had set to stop an attacking army. One (Sub-lieutenant Hargreaves) drove an armytank onto land. [cite book |title=Chariots of War |last=Hobson |first= Robert W |year=2004 |publisher=ULRIC publishing |isbn=0954199715 |pages=pp.137 ]
*11 September: X-craft repeated their attack on the floating dock Laksevåg at Bergen in Norway and sank it.
*27 October-28: The British submarine "Trenchant" carried two Mk 2 Chariots (nicknamed "Tiny" and "Slasher") to an attack onPhuket harbor inThailand . They were released six miles out from the harbor. The targets were two Italian liners, the "Sumatra" and the "Volpi", each of approximately 5,000 tons. Six hours later, for the only time, the British charioteers rode back to their mothership. On the return journey the Trenchant jettisoned the chariots so it could travel faster, after receiving a report of aJapan ese MTB in the area. The Trenchant carried the four charioteers back toTrincomalee . No chariot operations in combat.1945 and after
*1945 31 July: Lieutenant
Ian Edward Fraser and the diverJames Joseph Magennis in the XE-craft XE3 attacked theJapan ese warship "Takao " in the Johore Strait nearSingapore and sank it. For this action, they received theVictoria Cross . SeeIan Edward Fraser#Midget Submarine Operations for a longer description
*The British Chariots were used in the immediate post war period to clear mines and wrecks in harbours.By the end of the war, the British human torpedo operations had earned their participants 20 medals and 16 men had been killed.
Clearance Diving Teams were formed to clear unexploded ordnance and other military hazards left over from the war.References
ee also
*
Special Boat Service#History for a list of later SBS operations; but not all of those operations used frogmen.
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