''Delphin'' (dolphin) was a

midget submarine A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, from which they are launched an ...

created during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Designed in 1944, only three prototypes were created by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

by the end of the war, all of which were destroyed. The ''Delphin'' was built for underwater speed attacks, as German engineers under the leadership of

Ulrich Gabler Ulrich Gabler (1 October 1913 – 24 February 1994) was a German shipbuilding engineer, who specialized in the design and development of diesel-powered submarines. During World War II he served as chief engineer in the U-boat force on and , then ...

discovered that past midget submarines were too slow to match the speeds of large ships in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. ''Delphin'' weighed and was easily recognizable due to its tear-drop shape, which allowed the vessel to travel through the water at higher speeds. During trials, the submarine reached a speed of seventeen knots while submerged. On 19 January 1945, the first prototype was destroyed after a collision with a boat and resulted in further testing being abandoned. Two other prototypes under construction in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

were moved to Pötenitz near

Trave The Trave () is a river in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is approximately long, running from its source near the village of Gießelrade in Ostholstein to Travemünde, where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It passes through Bad Segeberg, Bad Old ...

, where they were blown up as Allied forces approached.

References

Bibliography

* *Sieche, Erwin F.

External links

Information on the Delphin class and its operations on Uboat.net
{{Kriegsmarine midget submarines Midget submarines World War II submarines of Germany