''Hecht'' (German: "
Pike"), also known as Type XXVIIA, was a two-man all-electric
German midget submarine
A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine 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, ...
created during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
History
The origin of the ''Hecht'' began with the salvage of the two British
X class submarine
The X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44. It was substantially larger than the original Chariot manned torpedo.
Known individually as X-Craft, the vessels were designed to be towed to thei ...
s and which had been sunk during
Operation Source
Operation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships – ''Tirpitz'', ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Lützow'' – based in northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines.
The attacks took place in September 1943 at Kaa ...
, an attempt to sink the
German battleship Tirpitz
''Tirpitz'' was the second of two s built for Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) prior to and during the Second World War. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial German Navy, ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Impe ...
. ''Hauptamt Kriegschiffbau'' subsequently produced a design for a two-man submarine based on inspection of the British boats, designated Type XXVIIA and named ''Hecht'' ("Pike")
Like the British X class boats, the Type XXVIIA was designed to carry explosive charges to be laid beneath enemy ships, but it was markedly smaller and had substantial differences from the X class. It dispensed with a dual diesel/electric propulsion system, relying instead solely on electrical power in the form of a 12 hp
AEG torpedo motor, on the basis that since it would operate submerged there was no need for a diesel engine. However, this resulted in a very low endurance of at .
Since the boat would need to be able to pass through anti-submarine nets and similar obstacles, it was designed without
hydroplanes or fins, her trim being controlled with adjustable weights within the pressure hull. In practice this proved totally ineffective since the weights could not be moved quickly enough and hydroplanes and fins were subsequently fitted. Submerged control was still poor, since ''Hecht'' was not fitted with
ballast tanks.
Even though ''Hecht'' had been designed to transport an explosive charge,
Karl Dönitz insisted that a torpedo be carried so that attacks could be carried out on vessels in coastal waters and ''Hecht'' was designed to be armed either with an underslung torpedo or an underslung mine, and a
limpet mine in the nose.
Externally, ''Hecht'' resembled the British
Welman submarine
The Welman submarine was a Second World War one-man British midget submarine developed by the Special Operations Executive. It only saw action once and was not particularly successful.
Design
Designed by the Commanding Officer of SOE's Inter S ...
. The detachable explosive charge was fitted to the nose of the submarine, while the forward section held the battery and a
gyrocompass
A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical direction automatically. The use of a gyroc ...
, the first to be fitted to a German midget submarine and considered essential for navigation since the craft was intended to operate almost exclusively below the surface.
[Kemp, pp. 207–208] Behind this was the control compartment with seats for the two man crew arranged one behind the other on the centreline with the engineer in front and the commander behind him. The commander was provided with a periscope and a clear acrylic dome for navigational purposes.
On 18 January 1944, Dönitz discussed the new design with Adolf Hitler who expressed his approval, and on 9 March contracts were placed with
Germaniawerft of
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
for construction of a prototype, followed by a further contract for 52 submarines on 28 March.
Fifty-three ''Hechts'' were built in total between May and August 1944, but their unsatisfactory performance meant they never saw action, and were mostly used for training ''
Seehund
''Seehund'' (German: "seal"), also known as Type XXVII, was a midget submarine built by Nazi Germany during World War II. Designed in 1944 and operated by two-man crews, it was used by the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German Navy) during the closing month ...
'' crews.
[Paterson, 112–144]
The submarine could also carry a diver in the nose rather than a magnetic mine.
[Williamson, p. 70]
Notes
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
Infosite Hecht midget sub
{{Kriegsmarine midget submarines
Midget submarines
World War II submarines of Germany