[PSUBS-MAILIST] MIdget subs at D-day

Fri Jan 31 20:49:46 EST 2014

I ordered the book but it has to come from the UK. Might take a month, so it'll be awhile before I can give a book report.
Vance

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Perkel <josephperkel at yahoo.com>
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
Sent: Fri, Jan 31, 2014 3:26 pm
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] MIdget subs at D-day

Carsten,

Finding X-5 from "Operation Source" would make give you and your operation much notoriety.

Joe 

Sent from my overpriced 
iPhone

On Jan 31, 2014, at 12:34 PM, " " <MerlinSub at t-online.de> wrote:

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

Ican recommed this book.
Is written by Pamela, the daughter of theyard owner which developand build the subs. 
We exchange some letters manyyears ago to try to figure out the missing fates. 
A  lot ofinside 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 bakedbeans,
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, January31, 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 DDay
X-boats  midget-submarines  were used at D-Day bythe British to ensure that their landings went well. The crews of theX-boats were made up of commandosfrom the elite Combined Operations Pilotage and Reconnaissance Parties,formed on the orders of LordLouis 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 datefor D-Day  two X-boats sailed from Hayling Island, Hampshire. Eachmidget submarine had a crew of five men on board. It would be their taskto guide in the British landing craft at SwordBeach. The fear was that the landing craft might drift towards rocksthat skirted the specific landing points at Sword and it was the task onthe submarine crews to ensure the landing craft stayed oncourse. 

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 inwidth. The crew could not stand up once inside the X-boats. The crewstook it in turns to have a four-hour sleep in the battery compartment ofthe X-boats and their diet was mainly tea and baked beans. 

Once the crews had sailed to the beaches they simply had tolay in wait and vitally, ensure that they were not spotted by theGermans. If one had been spotted, it is quite possible that the gamewould have been up in terms of a surprise landing  even if Hitlerwas convinced that the Allies would land in the Pays de Calais. Theexpertise of the crews was such that they watched unnoticed viaperiscope German soldiers playing football on Sword Beach just one daybefore the planned landings. 

However, both submarines had to surface at 22.00 to listento the BBC news broadcast at that time. While they were submergedneither crew could hear the news. It was vital that they did as a secretmessage was going to be broadcast on one of the bulletins that wouldtell them that the landings were on and that they had to be ready to dowhat was required of them.  

During one of these broadcasts, the crews learnt that thelandings were going to be delayed by a day. This put them in a quandaryas 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 themen to have a quick walk about on deck and to take in some freshair.   

The 22.00 BBC news on June 5th informed bothcrews via a secret message that D-Day was about to start. They now knewthat they had to be on duty at 04.00 on June 6th. They firstknew the landings had started when a huge fleet of bombers flew abovethem to bomb German positions along the coastline. The two crews knewthat it would not be much longer before the landing crafts arrived andit would their task to ensure they sailed on the right course to SwordBeach. The landing craft homed in on the lights that came from the twoX-boats. Casualties at Sword Beach were minimal when the sheer magnitudeof 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  yearafter year. This year well be talking about our 2013 work surveying and videoingthe WW2 Normandy Invasion fleet, most of which is still underwater. This was forHistory Channel and will air this year  the 70th anniversary of Juneau,Omaha,Sword, etc. The shots of the Sherman tanks laying higgeldy piggeldy (sp?) allover the bottom are incredible. Jeff Heaton, Nuytcos senior ops manager had theunusual pleasure of using Aquarius to take down a 92 year old  survivor ofthe invasion who was last there in 1944 aboard a small submarine, two daysbefore the invasion - to set lighting on the bottom to guide in the troopcarriers (the original schedule called for a night landing)  the story of he and hiscrew lying doggo on the bottom for nearly two days offshore of the landingsite as weather changes kept re-arranging the schedule  specially as they hadto 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: PersonalSubmersibles 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 everattended the manned vehicle sessions and never experienced an issue of not havinga seat.  The convention center and session rooms are notsmall...we're not talking PSUBS size event here.  The technical session rooms haveseats for...I'm guessing...200 people?  And there is plenty of "standingroom" if all the seats were taken.  

ABS reps usually attend because they have discussions about proposed rule changes...can't recall thegentleman's name at the moment.  I don't think I've seen a sub manufacturer otherthan Will Kohnen (seamagine) whom is the coordinator of the manned vehiclesessions 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 10days   time, & in

particular attending the underwater vehicle technicalsessions.

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 throughlack of seats in   the session rooms. Any experiencewith   this 

from others who have attended thesesessions? Also are   ABS or submersible manufacturers 

represented there?

Have tried calling U.I. a couple oftimes but haven't   been lucky.

Thanks for the heads up on the conference   Douglas.

Hank, from G.L. rules...The CO2pressure needs to be kept below0.01 bar

Alan

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