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X5

Built By: Vickers (Barrow)
Build Group: X
Fate: Lost during an attack on on German Battleship Tirpitz in Altenfjord Norway on 22 Sept 1943
An X5 Class midget submarine being 'launched' into Buccleuch Dock
An X5 Class midget submarine being 'launched' into Buccleuch Dock
X5
X5

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Unofficially named Platypus

Related Pages
Building X Craft Submarines
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My first glimpse of a Midget Submarine was about August 1942 when my then foreman in the Submarine Dock sent me to have my photograph taken to form a special pass to enter a secure area set in the North Shop (formerly the Gun Shop and now the Nuclear Build Shop) to work on a special project. I had no idea what the project was and doubted whether anyone else in working in my area did either.
 

Roll of Honour

Name Rank Number Hons Age
Henty-Creer, Henty  Lieutenant (RNVR)    MID  23
Lost in Operation Source, raid on Tirpitz
Malcolm, Alastair David  Sub Lieutenant (RNVR)    MID  20
Lost in Operation Source, raid on Tirpitz
Mortiboys, Ralph James  Engine Room Artificer 4th Class  P/MX 79142  MID  22
Lost in Operation Source, raid on Tirpitz
Nelson, Tom John  Sub Lieutenant (RNVR)    MID  22
Lost in Operation Source, raid on Tirpitz

Events

22-09-1943 : In Kaa Fjord X5 allegedly surfaced and was sunk by Tirpitz's automatics, 500 metres away from her target. Later research has suggested that this was in fact X7 abandoned and circling out of control after her attack, and that X5 never reached her intended destination.

The part played by X5 in the attack is not known but, some time after the attack, divers found wreckage possibly (but not definitely) of X5 about a mile to seaward of the Tirpitz, halfway between her and the entrance to Kaa Fjord.

No bodies or personal gear were found, and of survivors there was no trace. It is believed that she was destroyed by depth-charges; whether she was on her way out at the time, after laying her charges, or whether she was waiting to go in during the next attacking period will very possibly never be known.
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