The Welman submarine 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 opposi ...

one-man 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

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. It only saw action once and was not particularly successful.

Design

Designed by the Commanding Officer of SOE's Inter Services Research Bureau (ISRB), Lt Col. John Dolphin, as a method of delivering a large explosive charge below an enemy ship, the Welman was a submersible craft in length (including explosive charge), weighing about . Unlike the "Chariot"

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. ...

, the operator was enclosed within the craft, and did not need to wear

diving gear Diving equipment is equipment used by underwater divers to make diving activities possible, easier, safer and/or more comfortable. This may be equipment primarily intended for this purpose, or equipment intended for other purposes which is found ...

. The Welman could transport a time-fused explosive charge of

Torpex Torpex is a secondary explosive, 50% more powerful than TNT by mass. Torpex comprises 42% RDX, 40% TNT and 18% powdered aluminium. It was used in the Second World War from late 1942, at which time some used the names Torpex and RDX interchange ...

, which was intended to be magnetically attached to a target's hull.Akermann, p. 462 Vision was through armoured glass segments in the small

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

, and no

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 ...

was fitted.

Production

Following trials in the

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near Staines towards the end of 1942, the Welman was put into production, the production being contracted out to Morris Motors Limited's requisitioned factory at

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. Despite the craft's inability to cut a way through

anti-submarine net An anti-submarine net or anti-submarine boom is a boom placed across the mouth of a harbour or a strait for protection against submarines. Examples of anti-submarine nets * Lake Macquarie anti-submarine boom * Indicator net * Naval operations in ...

s (which both X class submarines and

Chariot manned torpedo The Chariot was a British manned torpedo used in World War II. The Chariot was inspired by the operations of Italian naval commandos, in particular the raid on 19 December 1941 by members of the Decima Flottiglia MAS who rode "''Maiali"'' human t ...

es could do) and the poor visibility available to the crewman, 150 production examples were ordered in February 1943. Production was halted in October 1943 when

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showed the concept suffered from too many disadvantages, by which time some 100 examples had been produced (precise numbers are unknown).

Operational service

In early 1943 the Royal Navy establishment on board the submarine depot ship HMS ''Titania'' was expanded to carry out sea trials of the Welman. Training courses for operators were located at

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Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...

. Trainees were drawn from the

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, the Royal Navy Reserve, and other Special Forces groups which included the Special Boat Section of the

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. HMS ''Titania'' was relocated to Loch a' Chàirn Bhàin, south of

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, in the north west of Scotland, which became a secret training base for all mini submarine operations. A Welman (W10) was lost on exercise in Rothesay Bay on 9 September. By autumn 1943, sufficient trained operators and craft existed for the Welman to be considered for operational use. In the autumn of 1943 the Combined Ops commander, General Sir Robert Laycock (who took over from the then Lord Louis Mountbatten) decided that the Welman was unsuitable for their purposes, so the craft were returned to the Royal Navy. Admiral Sir Lionel Wells, Flag Officer commanding Orkney and Shetland, thought they might be useful for attacks on German shipping using coastal waters inside the Leads off Norway. Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) of the 30th Flotilla, manned by officers and men of the

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, were making these raids already and agreed to try the Welmans in an attack on the Floating Dock in

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harbour (eventually sunk in September 1944 by X-24). On 20 November 1943 MTB635 and MTB625 left Lunna Voe,

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, carrying Welmans W45 (Lt. C. Johnsen, Royal Norwegian Navy), W46 (Lt Bjørn Pedersen (1922), Norwegian Army), W47 (Lt. B. Marris, RNVR) and W48 (Lt. J. Holmes, RN). The craft were launched at the entrance to the

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. Pedersen's W46 encountered an anti-submarine net and was forced to the surface, where she was spotted by a German patrol craft. Pedersen was captured along with the Welman, surviving the war in a prison camp. The other three, having lost the element of surprise, could not press the attack and so eventually had to be scuttled. Their operators made their way north with the help of Norwegian resistance members and were picked up in February 1944 by MTB653. The failure made the

concentrate on X craft and XE craft, although further Welman trials occurred, especially in

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. Subsequent to the failed attack the Germans salvaged one of the craft. Even though the German navy were appalled by the unsophisticated quality of the engineering they found in the Welman, there is some similarity between it and the ''Biber'' midget submarines used against Allied shipping in 1944. The major drawback of the Welman from its operators' point of view was that it had no periscope. Without a way of viewing its surroundings without surfacing, it was impossible to navigate covertly. It was also found that when travelling on the surface the operator's eye level was so close to sea level that objects more than two miles away were not visible.

References

* *

External links

Picture of the Welman submarine at Station IX

Lt Jimmy Holmes RN in Welman demonstrating low freeboard of 'conning tower' hatch
{{Station IX devices Midget submarines World War II submarines of the United Kingdom Special Operations Executive

Design

Production

Operational service

See also

References

External links