Welfreighter
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The Welfreighter was a
Second World War 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 opposin ...
British
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, ...
developed by the
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 ...
(SOE) for the purpose of landing and supplying agents behind enemy lines. It only saw action once and was not particularly successful.


Design

After the success of the X class midget submarines, an attempt was made by SOE's technical division, Inter Services Research Bureau (ISRB) under the command of Lt. Colonel John Dolphin to design a submersible craft for covert missions. These would include the landing and supplying agents behind enemy lines, intelligence gathering work off hostile coastlines, and delivering explosive
depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
s to enemy shipping routes. This design became the Welfreighter. It was intended that the Welfreighter could travel surfaced by night towards an enemy-held coastline, submerging as and when necessary to avoid detection. The special agents would then be disembarked and go ashore along with their equipment, stored in the special containers. The Welfreighter would then sail out to sea and submerge itself to wait until the next night. At a pre-arranged time, or upon receiving a sound signal from the landing party (made by a mechanical device) it would surface again and pick up the agents, before heading out to sea either to rendezvous with a larger surface vessel or return to base under its own power. The initial concept was a true miniature submarine which could from a distance be mistaken for a conventional
motor boat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...
and which could hold two agents along with its crew of two men, and which could also carry up to one ton of supplies in sealed containers. The designed range was to be up to on the surface, with a range of at speeds of up to . While submerged it was to be capable of diving to a depth of and travelling up to underwater. Design work began towards the end of 1942 with the building of a 1/4 scale model which was used for tests in an experimental tank at
Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...
' plant at
St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman r ...
. By February 1943 the tests had produced several alterations to the original design including modifications to the hull form to make it stable under tow at speeds of - .


Prototypes

Following the model tests, permission was granted for the construction of a full size prototype at the SOE establishment known as ''
The Frythe ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' near
Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...
. The first prototype had little resemblance to the later versions. When launched at Staines in May 1943 it permitted further tests but showed flaws in that it was not stable under tow at speeds over and lacked
freeboard In sailing and boating, a vessel's freeboard is the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship. In commercial vessels, the latter criterion measured relativ ...
. A second prototype was begun in June and was tested throughout the autumn and winter. A third prototype was begun in September 1943. Its surface range - - exceeded the specification, but at the expense of reducing the storage capacity by . Its speed was less than the specification, at maximum while surfaced, with a mere submerged. It did however perform satisfactorily when pressure tested to a depth of .


Production

In early 1944 a specification for a final Mk III version was proposed by SOE, which eventually entered series production. The range was now specified as , with an additional using disposable tanks (which however meant a loss of the diving capability). A further could be added if part of the storage capacity was used. The accommodation had also been enlarged; as well as the two crewmen, 4 passengers could be carried on short voyages, or 3 for longer trips. The cargo capacity had also been enhanced to enable between 1.5 and 2 tons to be carried. Underwater endurance had also been augmented, the craft now being capable of supporting 6 persons for up to 40 hours submerged. Finally, surface speed had been increased to cruising speed, or maximum. Even the electric propulsion was upgraded: it could deliver 2-3 knots. By now it was apparent that it was unlikely that the Welfreighter would be needed in Europe, therefore consideration was given to its use in the Far East. Due to the urgency of production it was not possible to create a dedicated factory. As had happened with the
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 year before, production was contracted out to specialised engineering firms already engaged in production of war material. In mid-1944, the
Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...
company of
Shelvoke and Drewry Shelvoke and Drewry was a Letchworth, Hertfordshire manufacturer of special purpose commercial vehicles. It was best known for its innovative waste collection vehicles that were the preferred choice of municipal authorities in the UK together ...
Ltd. was awarded a contract to produce Welfreighters. By early September an order for up to 34 Welfreighters was placed for delivery as soon as possible after 1 October. The company had no experience of ship construction, and was from the sea. Security surrounding the production of the Welfreighter was tight, and few non-
vetted Vetting is the process of performing a background check on someone before offering them employment, conferring an award, or doing fact-checking prior to making any decision. In addition, in intelligence gathering, assets are vetted to determine th ...
employees knew the truth until after the end of the war. Completed craft were transported at night under canvas covers to Station IX at Welwyn, where they were fitted out, the compass and periscope and secret equipment fitted. The craft were then balanced, trimmed, and pressure tested in the establishment's water tank. They were then transported onwards to
Fishguard Fishguard ( cy, Abergwaun, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,419 in 2011; the community of Fishguard and Goodwick had a population of 5,407. Modern Fishguard consists of two pa ...
in Wales, for sea trials.


Appearance

The Welfreighter outwardly resembled a conventional
motor boat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...
. While surfaced it was propelled by a Gardner 4LW
diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
omnibus engine driving a 4-bladed propeller, while underwater propulsion was provided by two electric motors, driving a pair of small propellers. Two "masts" on the craft's foredeck housed a Barr and Stroude
periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...
and a magnetic compass. A dummy mast and sail could be attached to these masts to help disguise the craft as a
fishing smack A smack was a traditional fishing boat used off the coast of Britain and the Atlantic coast of America for most of the 19th century and, in small numbers, up to the Second World War. Many larger smacks were originally cutter-rigged sailing bo ...
. The foredeck was raised up to give some headroom inside the craft, and was fitted with small square viewports. To the rear of the main structure was a raised deck, beneath which were housed 6 high pressure air cylinders. To the rear of this area was a cargo well, fitted at the stern with a drop-down tailgate. This could house seven cylindrical drums of cargo. Carefully loaded so as to give a slight positive buoyancy, these drums could hold equipment for use by agents or saboteurs and could be floated out through the tailgate and towed ashore by agents, either swimming or using an inflatable boat. Each Welfreighter was manned by a Sub Lieutenant
RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...
as Commander, and a Naval Engine Room Artificer (
ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...
) or Army mechanic (
REME The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...
). Up to four special agents could travel as passengers, although two would be more usual. These would commonly be Army personnel, who would be expected to assist with handling the craft while on the surface.


Service


Europe

Before the Welfreighter became properly operational the secret war in Europe was nearly over. In late 1944 plans were discussed to deploy the craft to the
Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...
, to assist operations in the
Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
, where SOE was involved in supporting
partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...
s in northern Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia. It was also suggested that Welfreighters could be used to plant mines in the entrances to German ports, but this was dropped when it was demonstrated that a suitable charge would have to weigh over , which would be too much for the craft's buoyancy and trim. Trained Welfreighter crews were ready for operations through the autumn of 1944, but neither Combined Operations HQ or SOE ever required anything of them.


Far East

Two Welfreighters were shipped to
Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
, Australia, in late 1944, to become part of the clandestine
Services Reconnaissance Department Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), also known as Special Operations Australia (SOA) and previously known as Inter-Allied Services Department (ISD), was an Australian military intelligence and special reconnaissance unit, during World War II. ...
(commonly known as
Z Special Unit Z Special Unit () was a joint Allied special forces unit formed during the Second World War to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia. Predominantly Australian, Z Special Unit was a specialist reconnaissance and sabotage unit that in ...
). Extensive trials were conducted, including towing trials and exercises using high-powered motor launches and Motor Torpedo Boats. One source suggests that 12 were sent to Australia in 1945.A Welfreighter four man submarine on trials at Careening Bay camp
Notes regarding a photograph, 1945 ''www.awm.gov.au'', accessed 30 May 2020


References

* * {{Underwater diving, divequ Midget submarines Submarines of the United Kingdom Special Operations Executive