RE: Ray : Xcraft

[Brian Danielson <BDANIELS@stb.com>]

An X-Craft is a World War II midget sub built by England. They are about
54 feet long (depending on version), about 6' diameter. They are for
four people (although crews of 3 or 5 were possible). They use Amitol
side charges (rather than torpedoes) which were to be dropped under the
target and would explode after being saturated with Sea Water.

They were typically towed to the release point by a large submarine.
During the tow a temporary crew manned the boat. At the release point,
the actual crew replaced them for the mission.

There are two movies showing them. The best is "Above Us The Waves", the
other is "Submarine X1". Above us the Waves is "best" (IMHO) because of
its  accuracy in portraying the events as they happened. A book entitled
"Underwater Warriors", by Paul Kemp (USNI) gives details of the attack
(as well as info on most other WWII midgets).

The main point was to sink a German battleship in a ford in Norway.

They had a wet/dry compartment forward for a frogman to exit for cutting
sub nets.

Detailed drawings can be obtained (including interior and exterior).
There are two in England (of which Ray has been kind enough to photo one
of them for me).

Brian.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Alan D. Secor [SMTP:secor@btv.ibm.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, May 12, 1998 1:30 PM
> To:	personal_submersibles@psubs.org
> Subject:	Re: Ray : Xcraft 
> 
> Anyone mind telling me what the "X-craft" is?
> 
> > I shot a roll and half but not all were of the Xcraft. Just most of
> them.
> > 
> 
> --
> Alan D. Secor
> e-mail: secor@btv.ibm.com
>