human torpedoes

human torpedoes were used primarily by the Italians, who pioneered them, but also by the British, Germans, and Japanese.

The 6.7 m. (22 ft.) Italian Maiale (pig) had a detachable explosive nose and a two-man crew who sat astride the torpedo wearing rubber suits and oxygen equipment. Taken close to their targets by specially adapted submarines, they crippled the British battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant in Alexandria harbour on 19 December 1941, and they also attacked shipping in Malta, Algiers Bay, and Gibraltar.

The British 7.6 m. (25 ft.) Chariot, modelled on the Maiale, was developed to attack the German battleship Tirpitz, but the operation, mounted in October 1942, failed when the two Chariots, slung under a Shetland Bus fishing boat, broke adrift close to their target and sank. However, attacks on Italian shipping in Palermo and elsewhere were more successful.

The 7.6 m. one-man German Mohr (Moor) comprised two electrically-propelled torpedoes clamped together vertically, the upper one having a tiny plexiglass-covered cockpit instead of a warhead. It was slow, could not dive, and the torpedo had to be released close to the target. First used against shipping during the Anzio landings in January 1944, and later during the Normandy landings that June (see OVERLORD), results were negligible and losses very high. A development of it, the Marder (pine marten), was equally unsuccessful (see Figure).

The Japanese human torpedoes, known as Kaiten (conger), were Long Lance torpedoes enlarged to include a compartment for the crewman and a conning tower. Transported by specially adapted submarines, they were first used at Ulithi atoll in November 1944, sinking a US fleet tanker. They were also used at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and elsewhere, but suffered a high loss rate and had few successes.

Bibliography

O'Neill, R. , Suicide Squads (London, 1981).