[PSUBS-MAILIST] MIdget subs at D-day

Fri Jan 31 12:34:00 EST 2014

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tip-Spear-Submarines-Pamela-Mitchell/dp/1872955142

I can recommed this book.
Is written by Pamela, the daughter of the yard owner which developand
build the subs. 
We exchange some letters many years ago to try to figure out the missing
fates. 
A  lot of inside storys from first hand. 

vbr Carsten

"Alan James" <alanlindsayjames at yahoo.com> schrieb: 
Jim,
5 men, 5 days in a sub on a diet of baked beans,
Goshh they were tough in those days.
Alan

From: "jimtoddpsub at aol.com" <jimtoddpsub at aol.com>
To: personal_submersibles at psubs.org 
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 8:33 PM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] MIdget subs at D-day

Phil,

Your D-day story left me curious to know more; found this: 
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/midget_submarines_d_day.htm

Jim

Midget Submarines and D Day
X-boats  midget-submarines  were used at D-Day by the British to
ensure that their landings went well. The crews of the X-boats were made
up of commandos from the elite Combined Operations Pilotage and
Reconnaissance Parties, formed on the orders of Lord Louis Mountbatten.
After the disaster that befell the Allies at Dieppe, everything was done
to ensure success on June 6th 1944. 

Five days before June 5th  the original date for D-Day  two X-boats
sailed from Hayling Island, Hampshire. Each midget submarine had a crew
of five men on board. It would be their task to guide in the British
landing craft at Sword Beach. The fear was that the landing craft might
drift towards rocks that skirted the specific landing points at Sword
and it was the task on the submarine crews to ensure the landing craft
stayed on course. 

The space in each of the X-boats was extremely limited. Each submarine
was just 51 feet in length and a maximum of 6 feet in width. The crew
could not stand up once inside the X-boats. The crews took it in turns
to have a four-hour sleep in the battery compartment of the X-boats and
their diet was mainly tea and baked beans. 

Once the crews had sailed to the beaches they simply had to lay in wait
and vitally, ensure that they were not spotted by the Germans. If one
had been spotted, it is quite possible that the game would have been
up in terms of a surprise landing  even if Hitler was convinced that
the Allies would land in the Pays de Calais. The expertise of the crews
was such that they watched unnoticed via periscope German soldiers
playing football on Sword Beach just one day before the planned
landings. 

However, both submarines had to surface at 22.00 to listen to the BBC
news broadcast at that time. While they were submerged neither crew
could hear the news. It was vital that they did as a secret message was
going to be broadcast on one of the bulletins that would tell them that
the landings were on and that they had to be ready to do what was
required of them. 

During one of these broadcasts, the crews learnt that the landings were
going to be delayed by a day. This put them in a quandary as they did
not know if they had enough oxygen on board to last them. When it was
felt possible to do so, the crews would surface to allow the men to have
a quick walk about on deck and to take in some fresh air.  

The 22.00 BBC news on June 5th informed both crews via a secret message
that D-Day was about to start. They now knew that they had to be on duty
at 04.00 on June 6th. They first knew the landings had started when a
huge fleet of bombers flew above them to bomb German positions along the
coastline. The two crews knew that it would not be much longer before
the landing crafts arrived and it would their task to ensure they sailed
on the right course to Sword Beach. The landing craft homed in on the
lights that came from the two X-boats. Casualties at Sword Beach were
minimal when the sheer magnitude of the raid is taken into account. 
-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Nuytten <phil at philnuytten.com>
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion
<personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
Sent: Thu, Jan 30, 2014 8:40 pm
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Underwater Intervention Convension

Jon . . ahem, ahem, (jes clearin ma throat) Nuytco has always been at
the UI submersible track  year after year. This year well be talking
about our 2013 work surveying and videoing the WW2 Normandy Invasion
fleet, most of which is still underwater. This was for History Channel
and will air this year  the 70th anniversary of Juneau,Omaha, Sword,
etc. The shots of the Sherman tanks laying higgeldy piggeldy (sp?) all
over the bottom are incredible. Jeff Heaton, Nuytcos senior ops manager
had the unusual pleasure of using Aquarius to take down a 92 year old
 survivor of the invasion who was last there in 1944 aboard a small
submarine, two days before the invasion - to set lighting on the bottom
to guide in the troop carriers (the original schedule called for a night
landing)  the story of he and his crew lying doggo on the bottom for
nearly two days offshore of the landing site as weather changes kept
re-arranging the schedule  specially as they had to surface at night to
get communication on the changing plans   well, its quite a story!   
Phil
From: Jon Wallace 
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 1:13 PM
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion 
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Underwater Intervention Convension

I think others will agree, the majority of attendees are there for ROV
related sessions.  I have only ever attended the manned vehicle sessions
and never experienced an issue of not having a seat.  The convention
center and session rooms are not small...we're not talking PSUBS size
event here.  The technical session rooms have seats for...I'm
guessing...200 people?  And there is plenty of "standing room" if all
the seats were taken.  

ABS reps usually attend because they have discussions about proposed
rule changes...can't recall the gentleman's name at the moment.  I don't
think I've seen a sub manufacturer other than Will Kohnen (seamagine)
whom is the coordinator of the manned vehicle sessions at the
convention.

You'll have a good time there.  It's worth the trip and no doubt there
should be some psubbers in attendance as well.

Jon

On 1/30/2014 3:38 PM, Alan James wrote:

Hi,
I'm looking  at going to the U.I. New Orleans convention in 10 days
time, & in
particular attending the underwater vehicle technical sessions.
The registration fee entitles you to attend the technical sessions, so
it seems the numbers
at each session aren't restricted. They had 2,450 attendees last year so
I'm wondering whether
I run the risk of missing out through lack of seats in the session
rooms. Any experience with this 
from others who have attended these sessions? Also are ABS or
submersible manufacturers 
represented there?
Have tried calling U.I. a couple of times but haven't been lucky.
Thanks for the heads up on the conference Douglas.
Hank, from G.L. rules...The CO2 pressure needs to be kept below 0.01
bar
Alan

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