HMS Meteorite

Last updated
U-1406.jpg
The U-1406, a vessel of the same class as HMS Meteorite / U-1407
History
War ensign of Germany (1938-1945).svg Nazi Germany
NameU-1407
Ordered4 January 1943
Builder Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Yard number257
Laid down13 November 1943
LaunchedFebruary 1945
Commissioned13 March 1945
Fate
  • Surrendered on 5 May 1945 at Cuxhaven
  • Scuttled on 7 May 1945
  • Raised, seized and rebuilt by United Kingdom in 1945
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameHMS Meteorite
Acquired1945
Commissioned25 September 1945
DecommissionedSeptember 1949
FateBroken up
General characteristics [1] [2]
Class and type Type XVIIB submarine
Displacement
  • 312 long tons (317  t) surfaced
  • 337 long tons (342 t) submerged
  • 415 long tons (422 t) total
Length
Beam
  • 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) o/a
  • 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) pressure hull
Draught4.3 m (14 ft 1 in)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 8.8 knots (16.3 km/h; 10.1 mph) surfaced
  • 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged (electric drive)
  • 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged (HTP drive)
Range
  • 3,000  nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced
  • 76 nmi (141 km; 87 mi) at 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) submerged (electric drive)
  • 123 nmi (228 km; 142 mi) at 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged (HTP drive)
Complement19
Armament
Service record (Kriegsmarine)
Part of:
Identification codes: M 47 655
Commanders:
Operations: None
Victories: None

HMS Meteorite was an experimental U-boat developed in Germany, scuttled at the end of World War II, subsequently raised and commissioned into the Royal Navy. The submarine was originally commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 13 March 1945 as U-1407. She was built around a Walter engine fueled by high-test peroxide (HTP).

Contents

History

The three completed German Type XVIIB submarines were scuttled by their crews at the end of the Second World War, U-1405 at Flensburg and U-1406 and U-1407 at Cuxhaven, all in the British Zone of Occupation. [4] U-1406 and U-1407 were scuttled on 7 May 1945 by Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Grumpelt even though a superior officer, Kapitän zur See Kurt Thoma, had prohibited such actions. Grumpelt was subsequently sentenced to seven years' imprisonment by a British military court. [5] [6]

At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945 U-1406 was allocated to the United States and U-1407 to the United Kingdom, and both were soon salvaged. [4]

Royal Navy service

U-1407 was salvaged in June 1945, and transported to Barrow-in-Furness, where she was refitted by Vickers with a new and complete set of machinery also captured in Germany, under the supervision of Professor Hellmuth Walter. Because she was intended to be used solely for trials and possibly as a high-speed anti-submarine target, her torpedo tubes were removed. [4] She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 25 September 1945 and renamed HMS Meteorite.

During 1946 Meteorite carried out a series of trials under the guidance of Walter and his original team from Germaniawerft, Kiel. The trials raised considerable interest in the possibility of HTP as an alternative to nuclear power as air-independent propulsion and the Admiralty placed an order for two larger experimental Walter boats based on the German Type XXVI, HMS Explorer and HMS Excalibur, to be followed by an operational class of 12 boats.

Meteorite was not popular with her crews, who regarded the boat as a dangerous and volatile piece of machinery. She was officially described as "75% safe". [7] She was difficult to control due to aircraft-type controls and a lack of forward hydroplanes.

Fate

Meteorite's Royal Navy service came to an end in September 1949, and she was broken up by Thos. W. Ward of Barrow-in-Furness.

Related Research Articles

Type XVII submarine Class of German U-boat

The Type XVII U-boats were small coastal submarines that used a high-test peroxide propulsion system, which offered a combination of air-independent propulsion and high submerged speeds.

German submarine <i>UA</i> (1939) German World War II submarine

German submarine UA was one of fourteen foreign U-boats in the German Kriegsmarine during the Second World War.

German submarine U-331 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II, famous for sinking the battleship HMS Barham.

German submarine U-325 was a Type VIIC/41 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

HMS <i>H6</i> H-class submarine operated by the Royal Navy,

HMS H6 was a British H-class submarine of the Royal Navy built by Canadian Vickers & Co. during World War I.

German submarine U-62 was a Type IIC, U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that served in World War II built by Deutsche Werke AG, Kiel and commissioned on 21 December 1939.

German submarine U-652 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 5 February 1940 at the Howaldtswerke yard at Hamburg, launched on 7 February 1941, and commissioned on 3 April 1941 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Georg-Werner Fraatz.

German submarine U-795 was a Type XVIIA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

German submarine <i>U-29</i> (1936) German World War II submarine

German submarine U-29 was a Type VIIA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

German submarine U-794 was a Type XVIIA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. She was one of a small number of U-boats fitted with Hellmuth Walter's high test peroxide propulsion system, which offered a combination of air-independent propulsion and high submerged speeds. She spent the war as a trials vessel and was scuttled on 5 May 1945 in Gelting Bay.

German Type IXA submarine German submarine class

The German Type IXA submarine was a sub-class of the German Type IX submarine built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine between 1937 and 1938. These U-boats were designed between 1935 and 1936 and were intended to be fairly large ocean-going submarines. The inspiration for the Type IXA submarine came from the German Type IA submarine, which had a similar diving depth and identical submerged horsepower.

German submarine U-56 was a Type IIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine that served in the Second World War. She was built by Deutsche Werke, Kiel as yard number 255. Ordered on 17 June 1937, she was laid down on 21 September, launched on 3 September 1938 and commissioned on 26 November under the command of Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Zahn.

German submarine U-741 was a Type VIIC U-boat built by F Schichau GmbH of Danzig and commissioned on 10 April 1943.

German submarine U-568 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She conducted five patrols, sinking one merchant ship, two warships, and severely damaging another warship. On 28 May 1942, she was depth charged and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea; all hands survived.

German submarine U-574 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She carried out one war patrol and sank one warship of 1,190 tons. The U-boat was sunk west of Portugal on 19 December 1941.

German submarine U-581 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

German submarine <i>U-975</i> German World War II submarine

German submarine U-975 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

German submarine U-793 was a Type XVIIA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. She was one of a small number of U-boats fitted with Hellmuth Walter's high test peroxide propulsion system, which offered a combination of air-independent propulsion and high submerged speeds. She spent the war as a trials vessel and was scuttled on 4 May 1945 in the Audorfer See, near Rendsburg.

German submarine <i>U-1405</i> German World War II submarine

German submarine U-1405 was a Type XVIIB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. She was one of a small number of U-boats fitted with Hellmuth Walter's high test peroxide propulsion system, which offered a combination of air-independent propulsion and high submerged speeds.

German submarine <i>U-1406</i> German World War II submarine

German submarine U-1406 was a Type XVIIB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. She was one of a small number of U-boats fitted with Hellmuth Walter's high test peroxide propulsion system, which offered a combination of air-independent propulsion and high submerged speeds.

References

  1. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Type XVIIB Walter boats". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  2. ↑ "This page contains details on the German U-Boat Type III, Type IV, Type V, Type VI, Type VIII, Type XI, Type XII, Type XIII, XV, XVI, VB60, V80, U-179, XVII". www.sharkhunters.com. Archived from the original on 24 February 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  3. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Horst Heitz". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Polmar, Norman; Kenneth J. Moore (2004). Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines. Brassey's. pp. 35–36. ISBN   1-57488-594-4.
  5. ↑ Madsen, Chris (1998). The Royal Navy and German Naval Disarmament, 1942-1947. Routledge. p. 180. ISBN   0-7146-4823-X.
  6. ↑ "UK v Grumpelt - Military Court" (PDF). World Court. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  7. ↑ Paterson, Lawrence (2008). Dönitz's last gamble : the inshore U-boat campaign, 1944-45. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword. ISBN   9781844157143.

Bibliography

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.