A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, from which they are launched and recovered and which provide living accommodation for the crew and support staff.
Both military and civilian midget submarines have been built. Military types work with surface ships and other submarines as mother ships. Civilian and non-combatant military types are generally called submersibles and normally work with surface ships.
Most early submarines would now be considered midget submarines, such as the United States Navy's and the British Royal Navy's (both named for the same
designer).
Military submarines
Uses
Midget submarines are best known for harbor penetration, although only two World War II boats, the British
X-craft and the unsuccessful
Welman submarine, were specifically designed with this in mind. Japan's
''Ko-hyoteki''-class submarines were originally designed to take part in decisive fleet actions. However, as circumstances changed, they were given the task of harbor penetration. Germany's various
World War II designs were mostly designed to attack Allied shipping off landing beaches and harbors, although the ''
Seehund'' had a great enough range to attack shipping off the Thames estuary.
Midget submarines have also seen some use in support roles. X-craft were used for reconnaissance, and the ''Seehund'' was used to carry supplies. A number of modern midget submarines have also been built for submarine rescue.
Human torpedo
Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of diver propulsion vehicle on which the diver rides, generally in a seated position behind a fairing. They were used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic concept is still in use.
...
es may be considered a type of midget submarine.
Armament
Midget submarines are commonly armed with torpedoes and mines in the form of, for example, detachable side loads and nose sections. Alternatively they may function as
swimmer delivery vehicle
A diver propulsion vehicle (DPV), also known as an underwater propulsion vehicle, sea scooter, underwater scooter, or swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV) by armed forces, is an item of diving equipment used by scuba divers to increase range underw ...
s to deliver
frogmen to the vicinity of their targets, which are then attacked with
limpet mines
A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its superficial similarity to the shape of the limpet, a type of sea snail that clings tightly to rocks or other hard surfaces.
A swimmer or diver ...
.
Civilian
In civilian use, midget submarines are generally called
submersible
A submersible is a small watercraft designed to operate underwater. The term "submersible" is often used to differentiate from other underwater vessels known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully self-sufficient craft, capable of ind ...
s; commercial submersibles are used in, for example, underwater maintenance, exploration, archaeology, and scientific research. Other commercially available submersibles are marketed as novelty tourist attractions and as specialised tenders for wealthy yacht owners. Also, a growing number of amateur submariners homebuild submersibles as a hobby.
Types by nation
Belgium
*
FNRS-2 pioneering research submersible
Colombia
* S.X.506 a 70-ton 5-man crew midget submarine designed by Italian shipbuilder Cosmos as a development of earlier S.X.404 by the same firm. Displacement is 58/70 t (surfaced/submerged), length is 23 m, beam is 2 m, draft is 4 m, and speed is 8.5/7 kn (surfaced/submerged). At a speed of 7 kn, range is 1200/60 nmi (surfaced/submerged). Payload includes externally attached torpedoes and swimmer delivery vehicles, and up to 8 divers can be carried in addition to the 5-man crew.
Finland
*
MIR for research and submarine rescue
France
* FNRS-4 second generation research submersible
*
Nautile research submersible to depth of 6 kilometers
France also acquired a number of German midget submarines at the end of WW2.
Germany
Most German midget submarines were developed late in World War II in an attempt to stop the Allied invasion of Europe and used later to disrupt its supply lines. As a result, the submarines mostly engaged in open water attacks rather than harbour penetration.
*
Biber (324 built by AG Weser of Bremen)
[Lenton, H.T. ''GERMAN WARSHIPS of the Second World War'' Arco Publishing (1976) pp. 285–286]
*
Delphin (2 built) 2-man 5-ton torpedo with top speed of and submerged radius of at .
*
Hai (midget submarine) prototype of improved Marder.
*
Hecht type XXVIIA 2-man 12 ton submarine with 1 mine or 1 torpedo carried outboard to a range of 38 miles at 4 knots.
[Taylor, J.C. ''German Warships of World War II'' Doubleday & Company (1967) p. 109]
*
Marder (~300 built) similar to Neger with breathing apparatus to allow submerged operation.
*
Molch Completely electric motor driven WWII (1944–1945) Midget submarine. Total 393 built.
*
Schwertwal (Grampus) Designed as super-fast Walter-type midget boat, but the prototype was not complete when scuttled in May 1945.
*
Neger (~200 built) 1-man 5-ton torpedo with underslung G7E torpedo. Top speed 20 knots and range of 30 miles at 3 knots.
*
Seehund type XXVIIB
[Taylor, J.C. ''German Warships of World War II'' Doubleday & Company (1967) p.110] Most successful midget submarine in the Kriegsmarine. Operational deployment was between January 1945 – April 1945.
*
V.80 4-man 76-ton prototype completed in 1940 to test Walther geared turbine propulsion system. Range was at .
[Lenton, H.T. ''GERMAN WARSHIPS of the Second World War'' Arco Publishing (1976) p.212]
* Orca class post-war midget submarine: 13.27 meter x 2.1 meter 5 men midget submarine with maximum depth of 100, maximum underwater speed of 5 kn, maximum range of 150 nmi, maximum endurance of 4 days, and maximum payload of 250 kg. Periscopes includes television camera, HF/HF communication and GPS antenna. There is also an underwater television camera and obstacle avoidance sonar with an effective range of 200 m. The low acoustic and magnetic signature midget sub displaces 28 t, powered by two computerized permanent magnetic electric motors that drive a single shaft low-cavitation and low noise propeller, which is controlled by fly-by-wire control system that is usually adopted for aircraft. The pressure hull is a modular design consisted of four modules that enables easy transportation and maintenance.
India
The
Indian Navy is planning to acquire two midget submarines at an estimated cost of ₹2000
Crore
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...
s for use as
swimmer delivery vehicles.
These submarines will be used for conducting underwater special operations by
MARCOS. Both submarines will be constructed by
Hindustan Shipyard Limited
Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) is a shipyard located in Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India.
History
Founded as the ''Scindia Shipyard'', it was built by industrialist Walchand Hirachand as a part of The Scindia Steam Navigation Com ...
.
Indonesia
The
Indonesian Navy has shown some interest in having a new Midget-class submarine, built by local shipyards, for coastal rather than open water patrol. The submarine was designed a number of years ago by a retired Indonesian Navy submariner officer, Colonel (Ret) Ir. R. Dradjat Budiyanto, Msc. The midget experiment project involves the construction of a submarine, designated MIDGET IM X −1, which will weigh about 150 – 250 tonnes, with a tubular frame design 24 – 30 meters long, and four torpedo tubes. The submarines will have minimum of 8 – 10 crew members including officers. They will have a 40 km range non-hull-penetrating optronic mast as the attack periscope, and a 20 km range navigation periscope.
Indonesian defence minister
Purnomo Yusgiantoro has backed the project. Construction should commence at the Indonesian PT.PAL INDONESIA shipyard by late 2011, and will take about three or four years to complete. If this schedule is met, the Indonesian Navy expects to be commissioning the first Midget Class submarine in 2014.
Iran
*
Ghadir Ghadir or Ghadeer ( ar, غدير , link=no) means ''hollow'' or ''pond'' in Arabic. It may refer to:
Places
* Ghadir, a village in Keserwan District, Lebanon
*Ghadir-e Sab, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran
* Ghadir Kuhi, a village in Hor ...
*
Nahang
Italy
* ''Siluro a Lenta Corsa'' (SLC), also known as ''Maiale'' (pig), a low speed
human torpedo. On December 3, 1941, ''Sciré'' departed La Spezia carrying three Maiale to conduct what became the
Raid on Alexandria (1941). At the island of
Leros
Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flight f ...
in the
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans an ...
, six
Decima Flottiglia MAS crewmen came aboard, including
Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
Luigi Durand de la Penne. On December 18 ''Sciré'' released the manned torpedoes 1.3 miles from Alexandria commercial harbor, and they entered the harbor when the British opened the boom defence to let three of their
destroyers pass. After many difficulties, de la Penne and his crewmate Emilio Bianchi successfully attached a limpet mine under , but had to surface as they attempted to leave and were captured. They refused to answer when questioned and were detained in a compartment aboard ''Valiant''. Fifteen minutes before the explosion, de la Penne asked to speak to the ''Valiants captain and informed him of the imminent explosion but refused to give other information. He was returned to the compartment and neither he or Bianchi were injured by the detonation of the mine. The other four torpedo-riders were also captured, but their mines sank ''Valiant'', the battleship , the Norwegian tanker ''Sagona'' and badly damaged the destroyer . The two battleships sank in only a few feet of water and were subsequently re-floated. Nevertheless, they were out of action for over a year.
*
Bathyscaphe Trieste
''Trieste'' is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe which reached a record depth of about in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench near Guam in the Pacific. On 23 January 1960, Jacques Piccard (son of the boa ...
was first to explore the
Challenger Deep of the
Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about in length and in width. The maximum know ...
*
CA type First series was a 2-man midget submarine the second series carried a crew of three.
*
CB type 45 ton 4 man design first introduced in 1941
*
CE2F/X100 post-war torpedo chariot
* MG 120: MG 120 Shallow water attack submarine (SWATS) is a development of MG 110 in Pakistani service with the displacement is increased to 130 t submerged, range is 1600 nmi @ 7 kn surfaced, 60 nmi @ 4.5 kn submerged, and the number of divers carried is drastically increased to 15.
* MG 130: MG 130 is a development of MG 120 with
AIP
AIP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Action International Pictures
* Afghan Islamic Press
* AIP Records, a record label
* American International Pictures, an independent film production/distribution company, now a subsidiary of MGM ...
module called UAPE (Underwater Auxiliary Propulsion Engine) based on a closed circuit diesel fueled by liquid oxygen, which provides an underwater range of 400 nmi (740 km).
Japan
*
Type A ''Kō-hyōteki''-class midget submarines were used in the 1941
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawa ...
, the 1942
attack on Sydney Harbour, and the 1942
Allied attack on Diego Suarez Harbor, in which the
type 97 torpedo was used operationally. The wreckage of one of the submarines sunk at Pearl Harbor was located by NOAA's Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) in August 2002. Photographic analysis conducted by the
United States Naval Institute
The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the Naval Institute holds s ...
in 1999 indicated that one of the five ''Ko-hyoteki''-class submarines managed to enter Pearl Harbor, and successfully fired a torpedo into . On 29 May 1942, one of two midget submarines managed to enter the Diego Suarez harbor and fire two torpedoes. One torpedo seriously damaged the
battleship , while the second sank the oil tanker ''British Loyalty'' (6,993 tons).
* Type B ''Kō-hyōteki''-class Midget Ha 45 prototype built 1942 to test Type A improvements.
[Watts, Anthony J. ''Japanese Warships of World War II'' Doubleday & Company (1967) p.213]
*
Type C ''Kō-hyōteki''-class Midget Ha 62–76 similar to Type A with crew of 3 and range increased to at surfaced or at submerged.
* Type D ''Kō-hyōteki''-class, also called ''Kōryū'' class (115 completed) improved Type C with crew of 5 and range increased to at surfaced and at submerged.
[Watts, Anthony J. ''Japanese Warships of World War II'' Doubleday & Company (1967) p.216]
*
*
''Kaiten'' submarine suicide torpedo.
*
DSV ''Shinkai'' research submersible, capable of diving to a depth of
North Korea
*
Yugo-class submarine
The Yugo class submarine is a class of four midget submarines used primarily for infiltration and espionage by North Korea. The Yugo class was given its name because it was built to plans supplied to North Korea by Yugoslavia in 1965.
Design ...
*
Yono-class submarine (see also
ROKS ''Cheonan'' sinking)
South Korea
* S.X.756: Developed by Italian shipbuilder Cosmos as a successor of earlier S.X.506 midget submarine in Colombian service. Length is increased to 25.2 m and beam is increased to 2.1 m in comparison to its predecessor S.X.506, and displacement is increased to 73/80 t (surfaced/submerged). Crew is increased by one to a total of 6, but the total number of divers carried remained the same at 8. Range is 1600 nmi @ 6 kn surfaced, and 60 nmi @ 4 kn submerged, and payload remains the same.
*
Dolgorae class midget sub
Pakistan
* MG 110 class midget submarine: Developed by Italian shipbuilder Cosmos as a successor of earlier S.X.756 midget submarine in South Korean service. MG 110 is a slightly enlarged version of S.X.756 with length increased to 27.28 m, diameter increased to 2.3 m, and displacement increased to 102/110 t (surfaced/submerged). Range is 1200 nmi surfaced, and the submerged range remain the same. Payload and crew are also identical to that of its predecessor S.X.756 midget submarine.
China
*
Type 7103 DSRVs
*
Osprey class submersible
Osprey class submersible is a class of submersible of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) specially designed to perform torpedo retrieving missions at test ranges. This class submersible was highly classified when it originally entered serv ...
s
*
Sea Pole class bathyscaphe
The Sea Pole (Hai Ji, or ) class bathyscaphe is a class of bathyscaphe of the People's Republic of China (PRC). They are capable of diving up to 7,000 meters, covering 99.8% of the oceanic floor of the world. Two units of this class are planne ...
*
Dragon class bathyscaphe
*
Harmony class bathyscaphe
*
Mobile diving bell
*
QSZ-II submersible
Poland
*
Blotniak
*
Living torpedoes
Taiwan
*2 Italian
Cos.Mo.S
Cos.Mo.S, officially Costruzione Motoscafi Sottomarini s.a.s, was an Italian submarine and submersible manufacturer.
History
250px, Carlos Cardoen meeting with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
Cos.Mo.S was started in 1954 by Sergio Puccia ...
CE2F/X100 post-war torpedo chariots
*2 Italian Cos.Mo.S S.X.404 midget submarines: S-1 Haijiao (海蛟), S-2 Hailong (海龍), in service from October 8, 1969, to November 1, 1973. S.X.404 is a 70-ton 4-man crew submarine design by Cosmos. Four were sold to Colombia and two to Taiwan in the 1970s.
Displaced is 40/70 t (surfaced/submerged), speed is 11/6.5
kn (surfaced/submerged), range is 1200/60
nmi (surfaced/submerged) @ respective maximum speed. Payload included externally attached torpedoes or mines, or swimmer delivery vehicles.
Romania
*
CB class, during World War II, Romania owned five midget submarines.
Russia
*In the late 19th century Russia built a class of treadle powered submarines 4.5 meters in length designed by
Stefan Drzewiecki
Stefan Drzewiecki (russian: Джеве́цкий Степа́н Ка́рлович (Казими́рович); 26 July 1844, Kunka, Podolia, Russian Empire (today Ukraine) – 23 April 1938, Paris) was a Polish scientist, journalist, engineer, con ...
they were withdrawn from service in 1886.
*APL and Pygmy projects – two boats were constructed in 1935-1936, tested, but later abandoned
*
Losos class submarine
Project 865 Piranha (russian: Проект 865 «Пиранья») is a type of Russian (formerly Soviet) midget submarine. The NATO reporting name for the class is Losos, which means "salmon" in the Russian language.
The Losos class was designed ...
Spain
* Foca class submarine (design begun in 1957, entering service in 1962): A total of 2 units built, SA 41 & SA 42. Displacement is 16/20 t (surfaced/submerged), with a crew of 3, and armed with two 21 in torpedo tubes. Stricken in 1971.
Not to be confused with World War II era Italian
Foca-class submarine.
*
Tiburón class submarine (design begun in 1958, entering service in 1964): A total of 2 units built, SA 51 & SA 52. Displacement is 78/81 t (surfaced/submerged), with a crew of 5, and armed with two 21 in torpedo tubes. Stricken in 1971.
Sweden
*
Spiggen II class midget submarine: 6 man crew midget sub displaces 14 t when submerged, with 5 kn speed and endurance of 2 weeks. Length: 11 m, beam: 1.4 m, height: 1.7 m.
[
* ]Sea Dagger
The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...
midget submarine developed by Kockums
Saab Kockums AB is a shipyard headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, owned by the Swedish defence company Saab Group. Saab Kockums AB is further operational in Muskö, Docksta, and Karlskrona. While having a history of civil vessel construction, Ko ...
: a midget submarine of modular design with length of 16 – 20 m depending on various configurations totaling 4, including training, reconnaissance, diver delivery and small attack versions. All versions are consisted of 3 modules, two of which are identical for all versions, the bow and stern modules. The midsection has 4 modules to choose from, each for a specific mission. All versions lack the sail.
* UVS-1300 Malen Originally built for navy purposes as sonar target. Midget submarine: 4 man crew midget sub displaces 11 t when submerged, with 5 kn speed and endurance of at least 1 week depending on fuel carried. Length: 10 m, beam: 1.4 m, height: 1.7 m.
Turkey
The Turkish navy has evaluated two midget submarine designs from German firm ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany (often abbreviated TKMS) is a group and holding company of providers of naval vessels, surface ships and submarines. It was founded when large industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp acquired Howaldtswerke-Deut ...
, Type 200 and Type 300 classes:
* Type 200: Displacement: 200 t surfaced, length: 25 m, beam: 4.2 m, draft 3.1 m, speed: 8 kn surfaced, range: 2100 nmi @ 8 kn surfaced, endurance: 2 weeks, armament: 2 21-in torpedo tubes with a maximum of 4 torpedoes, crew: 6 + 12 divers.
* Type 300: Displacement: 300 t surfaced, length: 30 m, beam: 4.2 m, draft 3.1 m, speed: 12 kn surfaced, range: 3100 nmi @ 8 kn surfaced, endurance: 2 weeks, armament: 2 21- in torpedo tubes with a maximum of 6 torpedoes, crew: 12.
United Kingdom
The Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
has used a number of midget submarines. Most were developed during the Second World War. The decommissioning of the Stickleback class 1958–early 1960s marked the end of midget submarines designed for combat in the Royal Navy.
* Sleeping Beauty
''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess ...
Motorized Submersible Canoe (MSC): developed by Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
Station IX
Station IX (formerly known as the Inter-Services Research Bureau) was a secret British Special Operations Executive factory making special weapons and equipment during World War II.
The small Welbike paratrooper's motorcycle and the Welrod assass ...
during the Second World War.
* Chariot manned torpedo: the British developed two types of manned torpedoes; the Chariot Mark I, of 1.6 ton, and the Chariot Mark II, of 2.3 ton. Sixty-four units were built.
* Stickleback class: a post Second World War development of the XE class.
* X class: used to attack German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
warships in the north of Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. One notable target of a successful attack was the battleship ''Tirpitz Tirpitz may refer to:
* Alfred von Tirpitz (1849–1930), German admiral
* German battleship ''Tirpitz'', a World War II-era Bismarck-class battleship named after the admiral
* Tirpitz (pig), a pig rescued from the sinking of SMS ''Dresden'' and ...
''. The submarines had a crew of three (plus a diver) and carried two large mines containing Amatol
Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The British name originates from the words ammonium and toluene (the precursor of TNT). Similar mixtures (one part dinitronaphthalene and seven parts amm ...
– one on each side. Their strategy was to lay mines on the sea bottom beneath the target, set a time fuse
Fuse or FUSE may refer to:
Devices
* Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current
** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles
* Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to prote ...
, and leave.
* XE class: used in the Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The te ...
against Japan, where they carried out a number of attacks and special missions.
* Welman submarine: a single-person submersible widely considered a failure.
* Welfreighter
The Welfreighter was a Second World War British midget submarine developed by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for the purpose of landing and supplying agents behind enemy lines. It only saw action once and was not particularly successful ...
: a Station IX-developed special operations submersible with two crew and up to four passengers, designed to resemble a motorboat when surfaced. Over 100 were produced, beginning in September 1944; the extent of operational use is unclear.
United States
* Advanced SEAL Delivery System
The Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) was a midget submarine operated by the United States Navy and United States Special Operations Command. It provided stealthy submerged transportation for United States Navy SEALs from the decks of nuclear ...
: canceled in 2009 due to cost overruns and reliability issues, and the only sub was destroyed in a fire in 2008.
* '' Aluminaut'': the first aluminium submarine, used to recover sunken items, including DSV ''Alvin'' and an unarmed nuclear bomb.
* Bathyscaphe Trieste II
''Trieste II'' (DSV-1) was the successor to ''Trieste''—the United States Navy's first bathyscaphe purchased from its Swiss designers.
History
The original ''Trieste'' design was heavily modified by the Naval Electronics Laboratory in San D ...
(DSV-1): a sister ship to the Swiss-built Bathyscaphe Trieste
''Trieste'' is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe which reached a record depth of about in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench near Guam in the Pacific. On 23 January 1960, Jacques Piccard (son of the boa ...
* DSV ''Alvin'' (DSV-2): performed thousands of dives, including one that explored the wreck of the .
* ''Nemo'' (DSV-5): an acronym for Naval Experimental Manned Observatory, a test vehicle operated by the Navy from 1970 to 1986. ''Nemo'' was a spherical submersible with a transparent acrylic hull, and its primary purpose was to evaluate the utility of the panoramic vision enabled by its design. ''Nemo'' was found to be an effective observation platform, despite not being able to hover in place, and acrylic-hulled submersibles have continued to be built and operated in the US.
* DSRV-1 ''Mystic'': a Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle
A deep-submergence rescue vehicle (DSRV) is a type of deep-submergence vehicle used for rescue of downed submarines and clandestine missions. While DSRV is the term most often used by the United States Navy, other nations have different desig ...
formerly operated by the US Navy. ''Mystic'' was replaced by the Submarine Rescue Diving Recompression System (SRDRS) in 2008 and donated to the Naval Undersea Museum.
* Dry Combat Submersible (DCS): a US Navy submarine under development by Lockheed Martin for transporting Navy SEALs
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting s ...
to and from a mission site. It is the planned replacement for the cancelled Advanced SEAL Delivery System.
* USS ''X-1'': an experimental US Navy midget submarine of the 1950s, used to explore how to defend harbors against attacks by very small submarines."Navy Tests First Midget Submarine As Close In Weapon"
''Popular Mechanics'', February 1956, p. 124, bottom of page.
Former Yugoslavia
*
''Una''-class midget submarine. After the
Yugoslav Wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...
, both Croatia and
FR Yugoslavia
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
held examples. Length: 18 m, beam: 3.7 m, diameter: 2.5 m, displacement: 76 t surfaced, 90 t submerged, crew: 4 + 6 divers. Surfaced and submerged speed is 4 kn for both, and the range is 200 nmi surfaced, 50 nmi submerged both @ 4 kn. M-100 lacks
sail
A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails ma ...
and its battery can only be charged when surfaced. Up to 4
R-1 swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV)s or two light (400 mm) torpedoes can be carried.
* Type M-100D class midget submarine. Development of Type M-100 Una class. Displacement is increased to around 88/100 t (surfaced/submerged), and the length is increased to approximately 21 m, beam is increased to 4.42 m, and diameter to 2.7 m. Speed is increased to 8/11 kn (surfaced/submerged), and range is increased to 550 nmi surfaced @ 10 kn when surfaced, and that of submerged remains the same as its predecessor M-100 Una class while the payload and crew also remain unchanged. A sail is added and its battery can be charged while submerged.
See also
*
Coastal submarine
A coastal submarine or littoral submarine is a small, maneuverable submarine with shallow draft well suited to navigation of coastal channels and harbors. Although size is not precisely defined, coastal submarines are larger than midget submarin ...
*
Narco-submarine
*
Royal Navy Submarine Museum
The Royal Navy Submarine Museum at Gosport is a maritime museum tracing the international history of submarine development from the age of Alexander the Great to the present day, and particularly the history of the Royal Navy Submarine Service ...
*
Wet sub
References
External links
*
{{Warship types of the 19th & 20th centuries