Australian mini subs in WW2

[MiTasol]

I was sent this link from a Kiwi friend and thought others may also be interested

The secret mini-submarines that played a crucial role in World War II

A flotilla of Allied X-craft mini-submarines were deployed to the Pacific to cut underwater telephone cables and disrupt Japan’s communication.

www.stuff.co.nz

 

[EwenS]

Rather surprisingly while Operations Sabre (off Vietnam) and Foil (off Hong Kong) rate a mention, Operation Struggle which saw XE1 & XE3 dispatched to Singapore to attack the IJN cruisers Takao and Myoko at the same time does not. There were 2 VCs awarded to the crew of XE3 and a number of other awards to other crew members.

Wiki has some well referenced articles on the XE craft, and their predecessors the X craft.

XE-class submarine - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

X-class submarine - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

And then there were their predecessors, the Chariot human torpedoes based on th Italian Miaile concept

Chariots

No history of submarine warfare in World War Two could be complete without a mention of the

rnsubs.co.uk

Human torpedo - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Shinpachi]

Please do not forget Stalin's contribution to ending the war either.
Very informative. Thanks.

 

[Capt. Vick]

I never knew about this...

 

[SaparotRob]

Thanks for the post, EwenS. This was news to me too.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very cool! I am currently reading "War Beneath The Sea" by Peter Padfield. Just finished the section on the X-Craft attack on the Tirpitz. I hope he talks about these as I've never heard of them.

 

[MiTasol]

Thank you Ewen for greatly expanding on the topic

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yeah, I had no idea of these cable-cutting ops.

The things one learns about submarines on an aviation forum!

 

[MiTasol]

And tanks and APCs and ships, etc, etc