Human Torpedoes and Chariots

(left) A British "Chariot" or "Human Torpedo" rides on the surface.

No history of submarine warfare in World War Two could be complete without a mention of the "Human Torpedo" or "Chariot".

The sheer drama of their story, which could not be revealed at the time, introduced a unique level of selectivity into naval warfare. The target was chosen and plans made well before the actual deployment, when they, just as their bigger brothers the midget submarines, or X-Craft, were towed into the area by a full-sized submarine.

The human-torpedo was "expendable"; it lacked the power to return to the open sea for a rendezvous with the parent submarine and the crew had the bleak choice of attempting to escape ashore or, as they were usually exhausted at the end of the attack, surrendering. The first countries to plan special submarine operations were those which had made the worst use of the orthodox submarine: Italy and Japan. John P. Holland, the American submarine pioneer, had sketched a midget submarine back in the 1890s, but the first attack craft to be seriously proposed took shape in Italy. In October 1935 two young Italian naval architects, T Tesei and E Toschi, submitted plans for the first human torpedo - the Siluro a lenta corsa (SLC) or 'slow course torpedo'. A working prototype had been built and tested at La Spezia by the end of 1936 and a special department undertook research and training until Italy's entry into war on 10 June 1940.

The role envisaged for the SLCs, or maiali ('pigs'), was that of clandestine attacks on the British naval bases at Gibraltar, Malta and Alexandria, and submarines were modified to carry the SLCs. From the beginning a long string of failures revealed the hazards of the concept. The first attempt was made in August 1940: a raid on Alexandria, with the Italian submarine Iride carrying the SLCs. This ended in fiasco on 22 August when Iride was spotted in the Gulf of Bomba and sunk by aircraft from the carrier Eagle.

An Italian Human Torpedo, taken by the Royal Navy after the Italian surrender, being tested.

But the secret of the SLCs was still intact and a double operation was planned for September, with Sciré carrying SLCs to attack Gibraltar, and Gondar was similarly equipped to attack Alexandria. Sciré found no worthwhile targets at Gibraltar and returned to base. Gondar had no better luck at Alexandria but was depth-charged and sunk on her return journey. Although the SLC crews were captured with Gondar's crew the British learned nothing about the SLC programme and a further attempt on Gibraltar was made in November 1940, again with Sciré. This time a rich prize was spotted in Gibraltar: the battleship Barham. Two of Sciré's three SLCs broke down after launching; their crews scuttled the SLCs and escaped into Spain. The crew of the third, piloted by Lieutenant Birindelli, nearly succumbed to oxygen poisoning from their highly dangerous breathing apparatus, but not before Birindelli, on the edge of unconsciousness, dragged his SLC to within 30 yards of Barham.

On the night of 25-26 July 1941 the Italians attempted a combined attack on the naval base at Malta. It was an audacious plan, reflecting highly on the courage of the Italian volunteers. High speed explosive motorboats were to blast breaches in the protective booms and nets allowing two SLCs to penetrate the harbour. Radar alerted the British defences and the attack was smashed; one of the SLCs blew up but the other was salvaged and examined. Even this disaster did not lead to the abandonment of the SLC programme and on 20 September 1941 the tanker Denbydale was badly damaged in Gibraltar by an SLC charge fixed to the bilge keel. The attack was by Visintini and Magro, launched from Sciré.

The most famous SLC attack of the war was also launched from Sciré, two months later - the sinking of the British battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant in Alexandria on the night of 18-19 November 1941. Three SLCs penetrated Alexandria, two of which laid their warheads correctly. The attack commander, Count Luigi de la Pene, was captured with his second in command, Bianchi, and interrogated aboard Valiant while the warhead's time-fuze was still running. As they would give nothing away, they were imprisoned deep in the battleship until de la Pene, knowing that nothing the British did now would be of any use, sent Captain Morgan the message 'Your ship will blow up in five minutes.' The Italians were on deck when the two battleships shook to violent explosions and settled on the harbour bed. They were as sunk as ships could be in such shallow water, and the Italian Navy now had the domination of the Mediterranean within its grasp, but the opportunity was wasted. Both battleships still had their upper decks well above water, and were able to simulate readiness for sea by emitting funnel smoke. With the four men from the other two SLCs all captured ashore, it was not until months later that the Italian Navy learned what a chance they had missed. For the time being, the British had no answer to SLC attacks apart from vigilance and the formation of special diving parties to search ships' bottoms for unexploded charges.

Another method of attack tried by the Italians was by swimmers from the Folgore, an Italian ship interned at Algeciras, across the bay from Gibraltar. Yet another interned ship, the Olterra, was modified to create a special underwater compartment from which SLCs could be launched and proceed directly across to Gibraltar. The first SLC attack from the Olterra (7 December 1942) was another disaster. The three craft were spotted during the approach; one was damaged by depth charges, the second came under machine-gun fire and returned to Olterra, and the crew of the third was killed by explosive charges. It took until May 1943 before enough parts and personnel had been smuggled through Spain to the Olterra for another three-craft attack on Gibraltar. On 8 May 1943 three SLCs evaded the British patrols and fixed their charges to three merchant ships at Gibraltar, sinking one of the ships and badly damaging the other two. All three SLCs returned to Olterra, but as it took so long to replenish the SLC team through Spain, there was only time for one more attack, in August, before the Italian surrender. This last attack yielded two cargo ships and a 10,000-ton tanker sunk.

The Royal Navy - at the insistence of Winston Churchill - were forced to make some effort to emulate the success and, with limited resources, groups were formed to study the tasks. The first of these groups was the UWWP (Under Water Working Party) formed at Gibraltar under Lieutenants "Bill" Bailey and "Buster" Crabbe (of later fame in 1956) and in 1941 they had nothing better to work with than the Davis Submarine Escape Equipment (DSEA). However, the British rapidly brought their own human-torpedoes - dubbed "Chariots" - into service in less than a year, with the initial intention off attacking the German battleship Tirpitz in Trondheim Fjord, Norway. Commander G.M. Sladen RN and Commander W.R. Fell RN were appointed to recruit volunteers. Trials in Portsmouth and then in the cold waters of Loch Cairnbawn, Scotland, were successful - despite some bizarre events including a party held by "Charioteers" beneath a train and an evasion exercise against local Home Guard members which resulted in a flare pushed through the letterbox of a local Police station. However the final trials against the defences of HMS Howe were completely satisfactory, three Chariots out of four reaching their target and attaching their dummy charges. Unfortunately during a third trial run, Sub-Lieutenant Jack Grogan SANVR suffered a fatal blackout while beneath Howe's keel, probably due to O² poisoning. The two operators were equipped with basic breathing equipment and rudimentary dry-suits (known as "Clammy Death") consisting of a one piece rubber hooded overall. Gloves were meant to be worn, but in practice often weren't due to their cumbersome nature, the men smearing thick engine grease over their exposed hands in attempts to keep out the chill.

British Chariots took part in five European operations:

1st November 1942

Operation Title: Norway

This was an abortive assault on the German battleship Tirpitz, moored in a Norwegian Fjord. They would be transported by the trawler Arthur, under the command of the legendary Leif Larsen - 'Shetland Larsen' - of the Royal Norwegian Navy, with Engineer Bjørnøy and Seaman Kalve. The three chariot teams (two operational and one spare) consisted of Lt. Jock Brewster RN, with AB Jock Brown as his No.2; Sergeant Donald Craig of the Royal Engineers and AB Bob Evans were the second crew; ABs Malcolm Causer and Bill Tebb were spare crew and dressers. The range of the attack, compared to the Italians' jaunt across the bay at Gibraltar, was immense, but the Arthur set off from Shetland on 26 October 1942 carrying two chariots which were subsequently put over the side and towed. With the chariot crews hidden in the hold the skipper of the boat, Larsen bluffed his way past the German patrols and entered Trondheim Fjord - but with barely ten miles to go it was found that both chariots had broken free in rough seas and were lost. There was nothing for it but to sink Arthur and make for the Swedish frontier. All made it but for AB Evans, wounded and captured near the frontier and subsequently shot - though not in uniform, he still had RN identity tags.

The British eventually modified three T-class submarines to carry Chariots - the Trooper (3 chariots), Thunderbolt (2) and P311 (2).

2nd January 1943

Operation Principal: Palermo

(sometimes reported as 'Op Principle')

The Italians had their own weapon turned against them when three British chariots attacked Palermo. The British T-Class submarine Traveller (Lt.Cdr D. StClair Ford RN) had been lost on 4th December 1942 while making a preliminary reconnaissance of the harbour, while P311 (Lt. R.D. Cayley RN) was lost prior to the attack itself, having gone on ahead through the mined Sicilian Channel to Maddalena. Trooper and Thunderbolt carried two chariots each. In addition, the smaller Unruffled was also along as the rescue submarine for the crews. Five chariots remained for the attack, on the night of 2/3 January 1943. One chariot crew - Sub.Lt H.L.H. Stevens RNVR and Ldg.Seaman Carter - had five hours of struggling to find the entrance of the harbour, when Carter's breathing bag failed and ran out of oxygen. Stevens decided to leave Carter on a buoy, to continue alone. However, he was still unable to find the harbour and went back for Carter and to look for their parent submarine. But there was no sign of Trooper. After more hours in the water they saw, in the darkness, the outline of the Unruffled (P46). The vigilant lookouts on the Unruffled saw the chariot and they were rescued.

One chariot had a battery explosion: AB W. Simpson was drowned but the other, P.O. John Miln, swam ashore and was taken prisoner.

The driver of a third chariot, Lt. H.F. Cook RNVR had ripped his suit on a net and was suffering from severe seasickness. His number 2, AB Harold Worthy, drove the craft ashore to leave Cook and carry on alone, but he found the craft too difficult to handle alone and abandoned it in deep water. He swam back to where he had left Cook but failed to find him. Worthy was also taken prisoner.

Of the two chariots that remained, XXII, manned by Lt. Richard T.G. Greenland RNVR and Leading Signalman Alex M. Ferrier, succeeded in penetrating the net by night and, crossing the harbour undetected, dived underneath the new Italian cruiser Ulpio Traiano. Once there, the two men successfully placed their charge under the ship's bottom. A second chariot, XVI, with Sub-Lt. Rodney G. Dove RNVR and Leading Seaman James M. Freel in the saddles, also got through the net and, like the first chariot, crossed the harbour without being observed. There they selected the 8,500-ton transport Viminale as their target, dived beneath her stern and successfully fixed the charge. They made their way ashore and were taken prisoner. Greenland and Ferrier were feeling more optimistic and tried to make their way to sea. They crashed through a net at full speed but came to a sudden halt when they bumped into a merchant ship and further damaged their compass. They eventually abandoned their craft and swam ashore and were captured, joining the four others - P.O. Miln and AB Worthy, Sub.Lt Dove and L/Sea Freel - in captivity, firstly in Italy and then moved to a Marlag in Germany when Italy surrendered. As a sad footnote, on release in May 1945, they found that their special pay for diving and chariot duties had been stopped from the time of their capture. Principle was a hollow success - of the eight chariots that set out from Malta, none returned. Three chariots and their crews were lost with P311. One two-man crew were brought back (Stevens and Carter) while, of the remaining four crews, six were in captivity and two more were dead. The operation caused the loss of two valuable T-Class submarines, P311 and Traveller. Against this were the sinking of a new Italian cruiser, which may not have been able to put to sea anyway, due to fuel shortages, and damage to a troopship (which had nowhere to take any troops to). Other charges were laid by Greenland and Ferrier but were either made safe by Italian divers or were incorrectly set.

18th January 1943

A successful attempt to sink German merchant vessels destined for use as block-ships to choke the harbour after the German withdrawal at Tripoli by two Chariots. Both British Chariots were launched from HMS Thunderbolt. One chariot - Lt. Geoff Larkin and P.O. Cook Conrad 'Len' Berey - was damaged on launching, making it unable to dive, though this was not discovered for half an hour, by which time the chariot was nearly at the harbour entrance. These two men got ashore just to the west of Tripoli, destroyed their chariot and diving suits and, by way of several adventures over seven days, including being captured by Germans, escaping and being looked after by an Italian, made their way back to Malta via Cairo and Castel Benito.

Chariot XIII, driven by Sub.Lt. H.L.H. Stevens RNVR, with Chief ERA S. Buxton, pressed on. They arrived off the harbour just as the Germans were sinking the first of the ships. Nevertheless, Stevens managed to attack his secondary target, the merchant ship Guilio. Both men were later captured and after a series of adventures met up with Greenland and Dove in a POW camp near Rome. On escaping amid the confusion of the German takeover of the camp after the Italian surrender, they sought refuge in the Vatican, where they enjoyed a safe war until liberated 15 months later by the US 5th Army.

May/June 1943

Successful beach reconnaissance in preparation for the invasion of Sicily. Three Chariots were used, each one carried on a U-Class submarine (HMS Unrivalled, Unseen and Unison). (The U-class were much smaller than the T-class and were more effective in shallow waters).

But the biggest success for the chariots came three weeks after the fall of Rome in June 1944.

A single chariot forced its way through dense anti-submarine nets into La Spezia harbour and sank the last Italian heavy cruiser Bolzano, which the Germans had seized at the time of the Italian surrender and withdrawn to the north. Operation 'QWZ', as it was known, was a joint operation with the Italian Navy. Two chariots - Sub.Lt. M.R. Causer (the veteran of the Trondheim attempt on Tirpitz and the walk to Sweden), with AB Harry Smith, and PO Cook Conrad 'Len' Berey with Stoker Ken Lawrence, were carried in Italian Motor Torpedo Boat MS74. Causer and Smith made a textbook attack securing the warhead underneath Bolzano. Berey had failed to find the entrance to the harbour and, as dawn was breaking, decided to scuttle his Chariot. Both Chariot teams failed to make the rendezvous with their MTB transports and, by coincidence, succeeded in joining the same group of Italian partisans ashore. Berey managed to cross the River Arno in August 1944 to rejoin British forces, but Lawrence, Causer and Smith were all captured while trying to make the same crossing. In addition, Charioteers were among the first ashore on the Normandy beaches, clearing mines and obstructions. They, with their Italian allies, had also been surveying beaches in Greece and the South of France for a possible invasion of Europe from the Mediterranean.

One Chariot operation took place in the Far East.

This was against two Italian liners, the Sumatra and the Volpi, at Phuket, north of Penang, Malaya. On 27 October 1944, the Trenchant (Lt. Cdr. A.R. Hezlet RN) successfully launched two Mk.II 'Terry' Chariots. These were a great improvement on the Mark 1, with the two-man crew sitting back-to-back. The two chariot teams comprised Sub-Lt 'Lofty' Eldridge with Petty Officer Woollcott, and Petty Officer W.S. Smith and Steward A. Brown.

The first pair successfully attacked and sunk the Sumatra in a text-book raid. The second team found that they unable to attach their charge to the hull of the Volpi, due to the deep draught and lack of space underneath the hull and then the barnacle-encrusted hull itself. Brown, therefore, had to place the charge inside the ship's engine-room, a job which took twenty extra minutes. Both crews returned to the Trenchant and were able to watch as their targets exploded.

This was the last chariot attack of the war. After the war, Chariots were used in clearing harbours of wrecks and mines.

The following Officers and men were decorated while serving in, or attached to, Chariots:

(CGM = Conspicuous Gallantry Medal; DSO = Distinguished Service Order; DSC = Distinguished Service Cross; DSM = Distinguished Service Medal; MBE = Member of the Order of the British Empire; BEM = British Empire Medal)

HMS/M Trooper with her Chariots.

Chariot hoisted inboard after trials

More photographs from training:

Some good books can be found on the subject of Midget submarines and Chariots, particularly "Above Us The Waves" by C.E.T. Warren and James Benson, published by George Harrap and Co, 1953, and "Underwater Warriors" by Paul Kemp, published by Arms and Armour 1996 and by Cassell (Military Paperbacks) and Co, 2000.