jazzeum
Four Star General
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 38,368
I picked up the Seehund as well as several of the other figures on Sunday and it's quite a masterful little model. I'm intending to pick up many more.
I had mentioned to Andy awhile back that it would be nice to see a British version although at the time I was thinking of a British Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) (first photo) but that probably would be a little too big, something possibly akin to an Eboat.
I was reviewing one of the K & C brochures this morning on the Seehund, which was a X Craft. X Craft had apparently been developed by the British, the X 3, to attack the Tirpitz (second and third photos)
The craft used against the Tirpitz were developed from a prototype, known as X 3, built by Commander Cromwell Varley, a former member of the Royal Navy who had set up a marine engineering business near Southampton. After her launch in 1942, the X 3 underwent a series of successful trials, and Vickers Armstrong Ltd was contracted to supply six production models by early 1943.
The brochure also mentions Italian midget submarines or manned submarines, called maiali (see photo). These were electrically propelled, with two crewmen in diving suits riding astride. They steered the torpedo at slow speed to the enemy ship. The detachable warhead was then used as a limpet mine. They then rode the torpedo away.
In operation, the Maiale torpedo was carried by another vessel (usually a normal submarine), and launched near the target. Most manned torpedo operations were at night and during the new moon to cut down the risk of being seen.
The idea was successfully applied by the Italian navy (Regia Marina) early in World War II and then copied by the British when they discovered the Italian operations. The official Italian name for their craft was Siluro a Lenta Corsa (SLC or "Slow-running torpedo"), but the Italian operators nicknamed it maiale (Italian for "pig"; plural maiali) because it was difficult to steer. The British copies were named "chariots".
In December 1941 the Decima Flottiglia MAS attacked the port of Alexandria with three maiali. The battleships HMS Valiant and Queen Elizabeth (and an 8,000-ton tanker) were sunk in shallow water putting them out of action for many months. According to accounts, the attack was performed even by diver Sergeant Salvatore Leone, from Taormina, Sicily. He was killed when the British "reacted furiously" to the attack, his body never being recovered.
Either of these would be interesting ideas for future issues and would probably be small enough for 1/30 scale. I'm sure that Andy will do more with the German Navy so here's hoping he will add to it with a British X Craft or a Maiali. The range could have lots of possibilities.
I had mentioned to Andy awhile back that it would be nice to see a British version although at the time I was thinking of a British Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) (first photo) but that probably would be a little too big, something possibly akin to an Eboat.
I was reviewing one of the K & C brochures this morning on the Seehund, which was a X Craft. X Craft had apparently been developed by the British, the X 3, to attack the Tirpitz (second and third photos)
The craft used against the Tirpitz were developed from a prototype, known as X 3, built by Commander Cromwell Varley, a former member of the Royal Navy who had set up a marine engineering business near Southampton. After her launch in 1942, the X 3 underwent a series of successful trials, and Vickers Armstrong Ltd was contracted to supply six production models by early 1943.
The brochure also mentions Italian midget submarines or manned submarines, called maiali (see photo). These were electrically propelled, with two crewmen in diving suits riding astride. They steered the torpedo at slow speed to the enemy ship. The detachable warhead was then used as a limpet mine. They then rode the torpedo away.
In operation, the Maiale torpedo was carried by another vessel (usually a normal submarine), and launched near the target. Most manned torpedo operations were at night and during the new moon to cut down the risk of being seen.
The idea was successfully applied by the Italian navy (Regia Marina) early in World War II and then copied by the British when they discovered the Italian operations. The official Italian name for their craft was Siluro a Lenta Corsa (SLC or "Slow-running torpedo"), but the Italian operators nicknamed it maiale (Italian for "pig"; plural maiali) because it was difficult to steer. The British copies were named "chariots".
In December 1941 the Decima Flottiglia MAS attacked the port of Alexandria with three maiali. The battleships HMS Valiant and Queen Elizabeth (and an 8,000-ton tanker) were sunk in shallow water putting them out of action for many months. According to accounts, the attack was performed even by diver Sergeant Salvatore Leone, from Taormina, Sicily. He was killed when the British "reacted furiously" to the attack, his body never being recovered.
Either of these would be interesting ideas for future issues and would probably be small enough for 1/30 scale. I'm sure that Andy will do more with the German Navy so here's hoping he will add to it with a British X Craft or a Maiali. The range could have lots of possibilities.
