HMS Meteorite
{{Short description|German experimental U-boat}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=U-1406.jpg |Ship image size=300px |Ship caption=The U-1406, a vessel of the same class as HMS Meteorite / U-1407 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Nazi Germany |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|naval}} |Ship name=U-1407 |Ship ordered=4 January 1943 |Ship builder=Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number=257 |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=13 November 1943 |Ship launched=February 1945 |Ship commissioned=13 March 1945 |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship fate=*Surrendered on 5 May 1945 at Cuxhaven
|Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Meteorite |Ship acquired=1945 |Ship commissioned=25 September 1945 |Ship decommissioned=September 1949 |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship fate= Broken up |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption={{cite web |url=http://uboat.net/types/xviib.htm |title=Type XVIIB Walter boats |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |access-date=2009-12-21 |Ship class=Type XVIIB submarine |Ship displacement=*{{convert|312|LT|t|0|abbr=on|lk=on}} surfaced
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|Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|4.3|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=
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|Ship notes= }} {{Infobox service record |is_ship=yes |label=Service record (Kriegsmarine) |partof=
|codes=M 47 655 |commanders=
|url=http://uboat.net/men/commanders/451.html |title=Horst Heitz |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |access-date=14 April 2016 }}
|operations=None |victories=None |awards= }} |
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), the fuel known as T-Stoff in German service.
History
The three completed German Type XVIIB submarines were scuttled by their crews at the end of the Second World War, {{GS|U-1405||2}} at Flensburg and {{GS|U-1406||2}} and U-1407 at Cuxhaven, all in the British Zone of Occupation.{{cite book | last= Polmar | first= Norman | author2= Kenneth J. Moore | title= Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines | publisher= Brassey's | year= 2004 | pages= 35–36 | isbn= 1-57488-594-4}} 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.{{cite book | last= Madsen | first= Chris | title= The Royal Navy and German Naval Disarmament, 1942-1947 | publisher= Routledge | year= 1998 | isbn= 0-7146-4823-X| page= 180}}{{cite web|title=UK v Grumpelt - Military Court|url=http://www.worldcourts.com/ildc/eng/decisions/1946.02.13_United_Kingdom_v_Grumpelt.pdf|publisher=World Court|access-date=2 March 2014|archive-date=2 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302150719/http://www.worldcourts.com/ildc/eng/decisions/1946.02.13_United_Kingdom_v_Grumpelt.pdf|url-status=dead}}
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.
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. 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, the {{sclass|Explorer|submarine}}s {{HMS|Explorer|submarine|6}} 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".{{cite book |last1=Paterson |first1=Lawrence |title=Dönitz's last gamble : the inshore U-boat campaign, 1944-45 |date=2008 |publisher=Pen & Sword |location=Barnsley, UK |isbn=9781844157143}}
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.
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book | last1 = Busch | first1 = Rainer | last2 = Röll | first2 = Hans-Joachim | translator-last = Brooks | translator-first = Geoffrey | title = German U-boat Commanders of World War II: A Biographical Dictionary | publisher = Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press | location = London, Annapolis, Md | year = 1999 | isbn = 1-55750-186-6 }}
- {{cite book
|last1=Busch
|first1=Rainer
|last2=Röll
|first2=Hans-Joachim
|title=Der U-Boot-Krieg
|trans-title=The U-boat War, Vol. 4: German U-boat Losses from September 1939 to May 1945
|volume=IV: Deutsche U-Boot-Verluste von September 1939 bis Mai 1945
|publisher=Mittler
|location=Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn
|year=1999
|isbn=3-8132-0514-2
|language=de
}}
- {{cite book
|last1=Gröner
|first1=Erich
|last2=Jung
|first2=Dieter
|last3=Maass
|first3=Martin
|translator-last1=Thomas
|translator-first1=Keith
|translator-last2=Magowan
|translator-first2=Rachel
|year=1991
|title=German Warships 1815–1945
|volume=2: U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels
|location=London
|publisher=Conway Maritime Press
|isbn=0-85177-593-4
|ref=CITEREFGröner1991
}}
Further reading
- {{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Steve |title=Fire and Water: Britain's Fast Submarine Program |journal=Marine News Supplement: Warships |date=November 2022 |volume=76 |issue=11 |pages=S599–S613 |issn=0966-6958}}
External links
- {{Cite web
|url= http://uboat.net/boats/u1407.htm
|title= The Type XVII boat U-1407
|last=Helgason
|first=Guðmundur
|website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net
|access-date= 6 December 2014
}}
{{TypeXVIIsubmarine}}
{{May 1945 shipwrecks}}
{{UK submarine classes after 1945}}
{{use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meteorite}}
Category:German Type XVII submarines
Category:Ships built in Hamburg
Category:U-boats commissioned in 1945
Category:U-boats scuttled in 1945
Category:World War II submarines of Germany
Category:Submarines of the Royal Navy
Category:Cold War submarines of the United Kingdom