British Mini Submarines in WWII

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
I've always been fascinated by the Japanese mini-submarines from WWII. Not necessarily due to their technology but more so out of the curiosity of finding out about them because they had been considered a 'Top Secret' item that had not been generally known from the war; at the least, they sure weren't talked about in the history books growing up. :bookworm:

With this years anniversary of the D-Day operation, I have found out that not only did the British also have mini-submarines but they played some key parts in the battle!

If you are into history or mechanical things (a 42hp motor?!), you may be interested in the article.

How The Royal Navy's X-Class Midget Subs Helped Make D-Day Possible
 
The Italians had minisubs (sort of). They sank a Brit ship or two in the Med. The bloody Brits counterflooded the ship as it went down; it settled on the bottom and the Italians didn't realize it was sunk the water was so shallow the top was still dry. (the Italian divers were caught).

Raid on Alexandria (1941) - Wikipedia

this describes 'human torpedo', in which the sailors ride outside the device, as opposed to true (mini)subs in which the sailors are inside.
 
The 'human torpedo' is pretty cool seeing as it is an early line of thinking of today's modern self-propelled diver vehicles.

Diver propulsion vehicle - Wikipedia

Gavin_scooter_dab.jpg
 
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