Midget submarine

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A midget submarine is a small submarine, typically operated by one or two crew, with no on-board living accommodation. Midget submarines normally work with mother ships, from which they are launched and recovered, and which provide living accommodation for the crew and other support staff.

Both military and civilian midget submarines have been built and operated. Military types work with surface ships and submarines as mother ships. Civilian and non-combatant military types are generally called submersibles, and normally work with surface ships.

1 Military — World War II
- 1.1 Japan
2 Nations
3 Gallery
4 See also

[edit] Military — World War II

[edit] Japan

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Five Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines were used in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, in which the type 97 torpedo was used operationally. One of these five midget submarines was shot and sunk by the USS Ward as it was spotted trying to enter Pearl Harbor. The wreckage of the submarine was located by NOAA's Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) in August 2002.

Photographic analysis conducted by the United States Naval Institute in 1999 indicates one of the five Ko-hyoteki-class submarines managed to enter Pearl Harbor, and successfully fired a torpedo into the USS West Virginia. The submarine's final resting place is unknown.

This conclusion, however, is disputed by several noted historians on the Pearl Harbor Attacked Message Board [1]^{[this source's reliability may need verification]}. The photographic analysis is based solely on three splashes^[specify] seen in a single aerial photo and purported to be from the midgets propeller. Only one submarine is known to have penetrated the harbor, and it fired torpedoes at the USS Curtiss and USS Monaghan. Another submarine fired torpedoes at the USS St. Louis as she exited the harbor. The remaining three submarines—the one captured, one found in 1960 and one found in 2003—had their torpedoes onboard when found. These submarines together account for the torpedoes of all five submarines, and thus rule out the photographic interpretation.

[edit] Nations

[edit] British

The Royal Navy also used a number of midget submarines.

[edit] X class

The first group (known as the X class) were used to attack German warships in the North of Norway. One notable target of a successful attack was the battleship Tirpitz. The submarines had a crew of three and carried two large mines containing Amatol — one on each side. Their strategy was to lay mines on the sea bottom beneath the target, set a time fuse, and exit.

[edit] XE class

The later XE class were used in the Far East, where they carried out a number of attacks and special missions.

German midget submarine Seehund, with a torpedo

[edit] Welman class

The British also developed the Welman class: a single person submarine widely considered a failure.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] German

The Germans developed various classes of midget submarines: the Molch, the Seehund, and the Biber.

[edit] Japanese

[edit] Gallery

Japanese midget submarine sunk off New Hanover island, Papua New Guinea	Diver and conning tower of the sub	Detail of the hatch and conning tower of the sub	Diver and the torpedo tubes of the submarine
A Kairyu submarine at the entrance of Moroiso inlet, 1945