The Japanese navy also built submarines with the fastest underwater speeds of any nation's combat submarines. The Japanese had the largest fleet of submarines of any of the navies in the pacific although Germany had the most overall. It mainly operated around the German Coast and the English Channel, attacking merchant ships. ![]() It was also a very quiet craft, making detection by hydrophone impossible. It's small size made it difficult for it to be picked up by ASDIC. However, it was designed in 1944 and only used in the last months of the war. Of the 1000 planned, 285 were completed and only 35 of those were lost, mostly due to bad weather. It was the most successful of the German Midget Submarines. The last major type of German midget sub was the Seehund. In return one cruiser, one destroyer, and three Catherine Class BAMS minesweepers were sunk in 1944 with the weapon.ĭue to this, the Neger was eventually retired and withdrawn from service. However, the Neger turned out to be very hazardous for its crew, and up to 80% of the crews were killed. Although not designed as a suicide weapon, the torpedo would often fail to release from the submarine when fired and would carry the craft with it to the target.Ībout 200 vessels of this type were manufactured in 1944. Due to the ineffectiveness of the Molch in combat operations, it was later used as a training vessel for more advanced midget submarines. The complicated system of tanks made it difficult to control during combat operations. Although 393 were built, it suffered heavy losses. The Molch, another German Midget submarine, was highly unsuccessful. Further operations in the area lost over thirty more Bibers. This was one of the the only ships ever sunk by a Biber. In the first attack, 18 were sent out and one returned. ![]() In 1944, the Bibers deployed against traffic going to Antwerp. Only two even made it to the operational area. For example, in the first Biber operation, 14 took part. Wikipedia- Biberīibers took part in many missions, but few ever survived them. This resulted in basic technical flaws that, combined with the inadequate training of their operators, meant they never posed a real threat to Allied shipping, despite 324 submarines being delivered. The Biber was hastily developed to help meet the threat of an Allied invasion of Europe. Germany had four types of midget subs of which only one was successful. Italy also had a few unsuccessful miniature sub designs. fought the Soviets sinking two submarines. 12 boats were completed before the Armistice. Italy planned for them to attack New York Harbor, but their transport submarine was sunk and the plan was scuttled. They were originally designed for coast defence but later modified as attack craft. Two CA-class subs were manufactured Between 19 and two more were manufactured in September 1943. There were two classes, the CA-class and the CB-class. Italy had 16 midget submarines over the course of the war. In 1945, they were used to cut Japanese telephone cables off the coast of Vietnam and China. However, only four of them ever saw action. All but two of the submarines involved were lost in this operation. However, six were used in Operation Source to neutralize German warships. The operational X-class were mainly used in preparatory work such as taking surveys of Normandy beach and cutting torpedo nets in harbors. Another six of the X-class were training-only. Six of the X-class were lost in battle and one in training. There were also a few unsuccessful submarines, such as the Sleeping Beauty and the Welman submarine. 20 X-class submarines and at least twelve XE-class submarines were built. The X-class submarine was built from 1943-1944, eventually replaced by the XE-class submarine. During World War II, the UK, Italy, Germany, and Japan had midget submarines. If you just want the short answer, skip to the last paragraph. ![]() The first of 393 boats were delivered on Jand were built by AG Weser in Bremen.This is a rather long answer outlining the strengths and weaknesses of various nations' midget submarine fleets. ![]() Behind the operator sat the electric motor. Behind the battery was the operator's position, which sat between two small trimming tanks. The front section of the boat held a large battery. It was fully electrical and was created for coastal operations, with a range of 64 km (35 nmi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h 5.8 mph). The Molch was based on torp edo technology, and carried two G7e torpedoes attached externally on either side of the craft.
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