- Welman submarine
The Welman submarine was a
Second World War one-man Britishmidget submarine developed by theSpecial Operations Executive . It only saw action once and was never particularly successful.Design
Developed by SOE's Inter Services Research Bureau (ISRB) as a method of delivering a large explosive charge below an enemy ship, the Welman was a submersible craft convert|26|ft|m length, weighing about convert|2000|lb|kg. Unlike the "Chariot"
human torpedo , the operator was enclosed within the craft, and did not need to wear diving gear. The Welman could transport a convert|500|lb|kg explosive charge, which was to be detached and left beneath the target vessel. Vision was through armoured glass segments in the small "conning tower", and noperiscope was fitted.Production
Following trials in the
Queen Mary Reservoir nearStaines towards the end of 1942, the Welman was put into production, the production being contracted out toMorris Motor Company 's requisitioned factory atOxford . Over 100 Welman craft were produced, but precise numbers are unknown.Operational service
In early 1943 the Royal Navy establishment on board the submarine depot ship HMS "Titania" was expanded to carry out sea trials of the Welman. Training courses for operators were located at
Fort Blockhouse inPlymouth . Trainees were drawn from theRoyal Navy , theRoyal Navy Reserve , and other Special Forces groups which included theSpecial Boat Section of theCommandos .HMS "Titania" was relocated to
Loch a' Chàirn Bhàin , south ofCape Wrath , in the north west of Scotland, which became a secret training base for all mini submarine operations. A Welman (W10) was lost on exercise inRothesay Bay onSeptember 9 .By autumn 1943, sufficient trained operators and craft existed for the Welman to be considered for operational use.
In the autumn of 1943 the Combined Ops commander, General Sir Robert Laycock (who took over from the then Lord Louis Mountbatten) decided that the Welman was unsuitable for their purposes, so the craft were returned to the Royal Navy. Admiral Sir Lionel Wells, Flag Officer commanding Orkney and Shetland, thought they might be useful for attacks on German shipping using coastal waters inside the Leads off Norway.
Motor Torpedo Boat s (MTBs) of the 30th Flotilla, manned by officers and men of theRoyal Norwegian Navy , were making these raids already and agreed to try the Welmans in an attack on the Floating Dock inBergen harbour (eventually sunk in Sept 1944 byX-24 ). On 20 November1943 MTB635 and MTB625 leftLunna Voe ,Shetland , carrying Welmans W45 (Lt. C. Johnsen, Royal Norwegian Navy), W46 (Lt B. Pedersen, Norwegian Army), W47 (Lt. B. Marris, RNVR) and W48 (Lt. J. Holmes, RN). The craft were launched at the entrance to thefjord .Pedersen's W46 encountered an anti-submarine net and was forced to the surface, where she was spotted by a German patrol craft. Pedersen was captured along with the Welman, surviving the war in a prison camp. The other three, having lost the element of surprise, could not press the attack and so eventually had to be scuttled. Their operators made their way north with the help of Norwegian resistance members and were picked up in February
1944 by MTB653. The failure made theRoyal Navy concentrate onX craft and XE craft, although further Welman trials occurred, especially inAustralia .Subsequent to the failed attack the Germans salvaged one of the craft. Even though the German navy were appalled by the unsophisticated quality of the engineering they found in the Welman, there is some similarity between it and the "Biber" midget submarines used against Allied shipping in 1944.
The major drawback of the Welman from its operators' point of view was that it had no periscope. Without a way of viewing its surroundings without surfacing, it was impossible to navigate covertly. It was also found that when travelling on the surface the operator's eye level was so close to sea level that objects more than 2 miles off could not be seen.
urviving examples in British museums
Royal Navy Submarine Museum atGosport ee also
*
Welfreighter References
*cite web | last = Colville | first = Tom | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Welfreighter | work = | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.welfreighter.info/| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-06-29
External links
*http://www.submariners.co.uk/Boats/Barrowbuilt/Midget/
*http://web.ukonline.co.uk/chalcraft/sm/xcraft.html
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