General Characteristics
Displacement:	27 tons surfaced 30 tons submerged
Length:	51.25 ft (15.62 m)
Beam:	5.75 ft (1.75 m)
Draught:	5.3 ft (1.60 m)
Propulsion:	Single shaft One Gardner 4-cyl diesel engine 42 hp (31.3 KW) @1800 rpm One Keith Blackman electric motor 30 hp (22.3 KW) @1650 rpm Image File history File links Naval_Ensign_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... A long ton is the name used in the US for the unit called the ton in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used (alongside the metric system) in the United Kingdom and to some extent in other Commonwealth countries. ... rpm or RPM may mean: revolutions per minute RPM Package Manager (originally called Red Hat Package Manager) RPM (movie) RPM (band), a Brazilian rock band RPM (magazine), a former Canadian music industry magazine In firearms, Rounds Per Minute: how many shots an automatic weapon can fire in one minute On... rpm or RPM may mean: revolutions per minute RPM Package Manager (originally called Red Hat Package Manager) RPM (movie) RPM (band), a Brazilian rock band RPM (magazine), a former Canadian music industry magazine In firearms, Rounds Per Minute: how many shots an automatic weapon can fire in one minute On...
Speed:	6.5 knots (12.0 km/h) surfaced 5.5 knots (10.1 km/h) submerged A knot is a unit of speed abbreviated kt or kn. ...
Range:	500 nm (926 km) surfaced 82 nm (151.8 km) @2 knots submerged
Complement:	4
Armament:	Two 4,400 lb detachable explosive charges
Diving depth:	300 ft (91.5 m)

The X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44. The craft were about 51 feet (15.5 m) long, 5.5 feet (1.68 m) in maximum diameter and displaced 27 tons surfaced and 30 tons submerged. Propulsion was by a 4-cylinder Gardner 42 hp diesel engine, converted from a type used in London buses, and a 30 hp electric motor, giving a maximum surface speed of 6.5 knots (12 km/h), and a submerged speed of 5.5 knots (10.1 km/h). The crew initially numbered three—commander, pilot and ERA—but soon a specialist diver was added, for which an airlock, known as a wet and dry compartment, was provided. A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of length. ... The pound (abbreviations: lb or, sometimes in the United States, #) is a unit of mass in a number of different systems, including various systems of units of mass that formed part of English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... A midget submarine is a small submarine, typically with one or two crew and no on-board living accommodation. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Gardner may be: // Gardner, Illinois Gardner, Kansas Gardner, Massachusetts Gardner, North Dakota Gardner, Wisconsin Glen Gardner, New Jersey Gardner (crater) on the Moon Gardner Canal in British Columbia Gardner Inlet in Antarctica Gardner Pinnacles in Hawaii Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts L... hp, see HP (disambiguation) The horsepower (hp) is the name of several non-metric units of power. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Categories: Road stubs | United Kingdom-related stubs | Bus transport in the United Kingdom | London buses | Vehicles ... Rotating magnetic field as a sum of magnetic vectors from 3 phase coils An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. ... A knot is a unit of speed abbreviated kt or kn. ... Kilometre per hour (American spelling: kilometer per hour) is a unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector). ... Scuba diving is swimming underwater while using self-contained breathing equipment. ... An airlock is a device which permits the passage of objects, people, and the like, between a pressure vessel and its surrounding space while minimizing the change of pressure—and loss of air—in the vessel. ...

Known individually as X-Craft, the vessels were designed to be towed to their intended area of operations by a full-size 'mother' submarine - (usually one of the T class or S class) - with a passage crew on board, the operational crew being transferred from the towing submarine to the X-Craft by dinghy when the operational area was reached, the passage crew returning with the dinghy to the towing submarine. Once the attack was over, the X-Craft would rendezvous with the towing submarine and then be towed home. Range was limited primarily by the endurance and determination of their crews, but was thought to be up to 14 days in the craft or 1,500 miles (2,400 km) distance after suitable training. Actual range of the X-Craft itself was 500 nautical miles (926 km) surfaced and 82 nm (151.8 km) at 2 knots submerged. The Royal Navys T class (or Triton class) of submarines was designed in the 1930s to replace the O, P and R classes. ... The S-class submarines of the Royal Navy were designed and built during the modernisation of the submarine force in the early 1930s to meet the need for smaller boats to patrol the restricted waters of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. ... Dinghy of the schooner Adventuress A dinghy is a small utility boat attached to a larger boat. ... A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of length. ... km redirects here. ... A knot is a unit of speed abbreviated kt or kn. ...

The X class submarines' weapons were two side-cargoes - explosive charges each held on opposite sides of the hull with two tons of explosive (amatol) each. The intention was to drop these on the sea bed underneath the target then creep away. The charges were set off by a time fuse. Polish wz. ... Amatol is a highly explosive material, a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate, and used as an explosive in military weapons. ... In an explosive device, a fuse (or fuze) is the part of the device that causes it to function. ...

A number of development craft were built before it was felt that a realistic weapon had been produced. The first operational craft was HMS X3 (or HM S/M X.3), launched on the night of March 15, 1942. Training with the craft began in September 1942, with HMS X4 arriving in October. In December 1942 and January 1943 six of the "5-10" class began to arrive, identical externally but with a completely reworked interior. March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (75th in leap years). ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...

These operations were part of a longer series of frogman operations which are listed in a timetable on the page Human torpedo. // This page describes a type of scuba diver. ... A timetable is an organized list or schedule, usually set out in tabular form, providing information about a series of arranged events: in particular, the time at which it is planned these events will take place. ... // CGI image of two frogmen with Siebe Gorman CDBA rebreathers riding a human torpedo. ...

Their first deployment was Operation Source in September, 1943, an attempt to neutralise the heavy German warships based in Northern Norway. Six X-Craft were used, but only 2 successfully laid charges (under the Tirpitz); the rest were lost, scuttled or returned to base. The Tirpitz was badly damaged and out of action until April 1944. Operation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships - Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Lutzow - based in Northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga class cruiser. ... Tirpitz was the second Bismarck class battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, sistership of Bismarck. ... German battlecruiser Derfflinger scuttled at Scapa Flow. ...

This was the only multiple X-craft attack. The lost craft were replaced early in 1944 with X20 to X25 and six training-only craft.

On April 15, 1944 HMS X24 attacked the Laksevåg floating dock at Bergen. X22 was intended for the mission, but had been accidentally rammed during training and sunk with all hands. The X24 made the approach and escaped successfully, unfortunately the charges were placed under the Bärenfels, a 7,500 ton merchant-vessel along the dock, she was sunk but the dock suffered only minor damage. On September 11, 1944 the operation was repeated by X24, with a new crew; this time the dock was sunk. April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... LaksevÃ¥g is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway. ... A floating dock is a platform or ramp supported by pontoons. ... County Hordaland District Midhordland Municipality NO-1201 Administrative centre Bergen Mayor (2004) Herman Friele (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 215 465 km² 445 km² 0. ... September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ...

X-Craft were involved in the preparatory work for Overlord. Operation Postage Able was planned to take surveys of the landing beaches with HMS X20 spending four days off the French coast. Periscope reconnaissance of the shoreline and echo-soundings were performed during daytime. Each night, X20 would approach the beach and 2 divers would swim ashore. Soil samples were collected in condoms. The divers went ashore on two nights to survey the beaches at Vierville-sur-Mer, Moulins St Laurent and Colleville-sur-Mer in what became the American Omaha Beach. On the third night, they were due to go ashore off the Orne Estuary (Sword Beach), but by this stage fatigue (the crew and divers had been living on little more than benzedrine tablets) and the worsening weather caused Hudspeth to shorten the operation, returning to Dolphin on 21 January 1944. Hudspeth received a bar to his DSC. Operation Neptune refers to the landing phase of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. ... The X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44. ... Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ... A standard latex condom still rolled up This article is about the contraceptive device. ... Vierville-sur-Mer is a commune and a canton of the Calvados département, in the Basse-Normandie région, in France. ... Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer is a commune of the Calvados département, in the Basse-Normandie région, in France. ... Colleville-sur-Mer is a commune of the Calvados département, in the Basse_Normandie région, in France. ... Combatants United States Germany Commanders Omar Bradley Norman Cota Clarence R. Huebner U.S. 1st Infantry Division U.S. 29th Infantry Division Dietrich Kraiss German 352nd Infantry Division Strength 43,250 Unknown Casualties 3,336 1,200 The build-up of Omaha Beach: reinforcements of men and equipment moving inland. ... Orne is a département in the northwest of France named after the Orne River. ... Combatants United Kingdom Germany Commanders General-Lieutenant Miles Dempsey, British 3rd Infantry Division Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter, German 716th Static Infantry Division Hans von Luck, German 21st Panzer Division Strength 28,845 Unknown Casualties 630 Unknown German defense at Ouistreham. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... HMS Dolphin (1751-1770) was an 18th century British Royal Navy sailing ship, which circumnavigated the world twice in an era when this was still a hazardous and infrequently-made undertaking. ... January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is the third level military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) ratings of the Royal Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries. ...

X20 and X23 acted as lightships to help the D-Day invasion fleet land on the correct beaches (Operation Gambit, as part of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties. Land on Normandy In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. ... During World War II Operation Gambit was a part of Operation Neptune, the landing phase of the invasion of northern France (Overlord). ...

X24 is the only remaining example of an X-Craft. It can be found in the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. The Submarine Museum Have you ever been in a W.W.II submarine? Pictured yourself cramped in a tiny miniature submarine about to slip under an enemy ship? Thought about escaping from a submarine trapped many hundreds of feet below the surface of the sea? Now you can experience the...

The numbering sequence of the X class began with X3 because the designations X1 and X2 had already been used previously - X1 had been a one-off submarine cruiser design from the 1920s while X2 had been assigned to a captured Italian submarine. for the midget submarine of the Second World War, see X class submarine HM Submarine X1 was, conceived and designed as a submersible commerce raider for the Royal Navy. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (really an uprated guided missile destroyer), launched in 1992. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... HM Submarine X2 was the name given to the former Italian submarine Galileo Galilei (captured by the Royal Navy in June 1940) when she was commissioned into the Royal Navy in June 1942 as a training submarine in the Far East. ...

This type of midget submarine was portrayed in the 1955 war film, Above Us the Waves, featuring John Mills, which was based on both Operation Source, and the earlier Chariot attacks on the Tirpitz. 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Above Us the Waves is a 1955 war film starring John Mills, John Gregson, Donald Sinden, James Robertson Justice, Michael Medwin, William Franklyn, Anthony Newley, John Horsley and James Kenney. ... John Mills as Professor Bernard Quatermass in the Thames Television science-fiction serial Quatermass (1979). ...

This class of submarine was later featured in the 1969 movie Submarine X-1 starring James Caan as a Royal Navy officer who after losing his submarine and fifty crew members in a battle with a German ship during World War II, gets a second chance training crews to take part in a raid using midget subs. For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... James Langston Edmund Caan (born March 26, 1940), commonly known as James Caan, is an American Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

List of X-Craft

• Prototypes
  • X3 — built by Varley Marine, Hamble, scrapped 1945
  • X4 — built by Portsmouth Dockyard, scrapped 1945
• X5-type
  • X5 — built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness, used in Operation Source, scuttled Altenfjord 22 September 1943
  • X6 — built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, scuttled Altenfjord 22 September 1943
  • X7 — built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, scuttled Altenfjord 22 September 1943, salved 1976 for museum restoration
  • X8 — built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, scuttled in North Sea 17 September 1943
  • X9 — built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, foundered under tow in North Sea October 15, 1943
  • X10 — built by Vickers, used in Operation Source, scuttled in North Sea 3 October 1943
• X20-type
  • X20 — built by Broadbent, Huddersfield, used in Operation Gambit
  • X21 — built by Broadbent
  • X22 — built by Markham, Chesterfield, collided with HMS Syrtis and lost with all hands while training February 7, 1944
  • X23 — built by Markham, used in Operation Gambit, sold 1945
  • X24 — built by Marshall, Gainsborough, attacked Laksevåg floating dock at Bergen, hulked 1945
  • X25 — built by Marshall, sold 1945
• Training craft
  • XT1 — built by Vickers, scrapped 1945
  • XT2 — built by Vickers, scrapped 1945
  • XT3 — built by Vickers, scrapped 1945
  • XT4 — built by Vickers, scrapped 1945
  • XT5 — built by Vickers, scrapped 1945
  • XT6 — built by Vickers, scrapped 1945

River Hamble in Hampshire, England. ... Portsmouth Naval Dockyard. ... The Vickers corporation, founded as the Vickers company in 1828, was a British manufacturer, primarily of military equipment. ... Barrow-in-Furness is a town in Cumbria, England. ... Operation Source was a series of attacks to neutralise the heavy German warships - Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Lutzow - based in Northern Norway, using X-class midget submarines. ... German battlecruiser Derfflinger scuttled at Scapa Flow. ... September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Huddersfield is a large town in England near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme. ... During World War II Operation Gambit was a part of Operation Neptune, the landing phase of the invasion of northern France (Overlord). ... Chesterfield, see Chesterfield (disambiguation) Chesterfield is a historic market town and local government district in Derbyshire, a county in England. ... February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Gainsborough may refer to: Several places: Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England An area in Ipswich, England Gainsborough Area in Kiama Downs, New South Wales, Australia Aeris Gainsborough, a character from Final Fantasy VII Thomas Gainsborough, a painter (who is often referred to simply as Gainsborough) Humphrey Gainsborough, Thomass brother Gainsborough Pictures... LaksevÃ¥g is a borough of the city of Bergen, Norway. ... A floating dock is a platform or ramp supported by pontoons. ... County Hordaland District Midhordland Municipality NO-1201 Administrative centre Bergen Mayor (2004) Herman Friele (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 215 465 km² 445 km² 0. ...

Successors: XE class

Operations continued in the Far East with the revised XE class submarines. The far east as a cultural block includes East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia. ... Six XE class midget submarines were built for the Royal Navy during 1944. ...

Surviving examples

• X24 - the only one to have seen service and survive is at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport
• Imperial War Museum Duxford#The Naval Collection

The Submarine Museum Have you ever been in a W.W.II submarine? Pictured yourself cramped in a tiny miniature submarine about to slip under an enemy ship? Thought about escaping from a submarine trapped many hundreds of feet below the surface of the sea? Now you can experience the... Gosport is a town and district in Hampshire with around 77,000 inhabitants (including Lee-on-the-Solent), situated on the south coast of England. ... American Air Museum Duxford General Dynamics F-111 A B-52 up close The Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire, commonly referred to simply as Duxford, houses the Imperial War Museums aircraft collection, as well as having a large collection of tanks, military and naval vehicles. ...

See also

• HM Submarine X1
• HM Submarine X2

for the midget submarine of the Second World War, see X class submarine HM Submarine X1 was, conceived and designed as a submersible commerce raider for the Royal Navy. ... HM Submarine X2 was the name given to the former Italian submarine Galileo Galilei (captured by the Royal Navy in June 1940) when she was commissioned into the Royal Navy in June 1942 as a training submarine in the Far East. ...

References

• Above Us The Waves by C.E.T. Warren and James Benson - George G. Harrap & Co. LTD - 1953 - ISBN 1-84415-440-8
• Submarines in Colour by Bill Gunston - Blandford Colour Series - Blandford - 1976 - ISBN 0-7137-0780-1
• Submarines - The History and Evolution of Underwater Fighting Vessels by Anthony Preston - Octopus Books - 1974 - ISBN 0-7064-0429-7

Bill Gunston is one of the most internationally respected and published aviation authors. ...

External link

• Model X-Craft site (in Italian)]
• XT-class painting with specification
• Training of Submarine Crews at Tavay Island, Keose