Rocket U-boat
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Rocket U-boat was a series of military projects undertaken 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 ...
during the
Second World War 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 ...
. The projects, which were undertaken at
Peenemünde Army Research Center The Peenemünde Army Research Center (, HVP) was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office (''Heereswaffenamt''). Several German guided missiles and rockets of World War II were developed by ...
, aimed to develop submarine-launched rockets, flying bombs and missiles. The
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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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 ...
(German Navy) did not use submarine-launched rockets or missiles from U-boats against targets at sea or ashore. These projects never reached
combat readiness Combat readiness is a condition of the armed forces and their constituent units and formations, warships, aircraft, weapon systems or other military technology and equipment to perform during combat military operations, or functions consistent ...
before the war ended. From May 31 to June 5, 1942, a series of underwater-launching experiments of solid-fuel rockets were carried out using submarine as a launching platform. The rocket system was first envisaged as a weapon against convoy escorts but with no effective guidance system, the arrangement was ineffective against moving targets and could only be used for
shore bombardment Naval gunfire support (NGFS), also known as naval surface fire support (NSFS), or shore bombardment, is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of severa ...
. Development of this system ended in early 1943 because it decreased the U-boats'
seaworthiness Seakeeping ability or seaworthiness is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea sta ...
. Plans for the rocket U-boat involved an attack on
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
using newly invented
V-2 rocket The V2 (), with the technical name ''Aggregat (rocket family), Aggregat-4'' (A4), was the world's first long-range missile guidance, guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the S ...
s; Unmanned and unpowered containers with V-2 rockets inside were to be towed within range of the target by a conventional U-boat then set up and launched from its gyro-stabilized platform. With thoughts of hitting targets in the United States and in the United Kingdom, a -long container of 500-tons displacement was to be towed behind a submerged U-boat. The evacuation of Peenemünde in February 1945 brought an end to these developments. There are no records that these were tested with a rocket launch before Germany's final defeat. It is the forerunner and basis of modern
ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their nuclear deterrence capabi ...
s. After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union continued these projects with the assistance of captured German scientists. The US Navy fired
Republic-Ford JB-2 The Republic-Ford JB-2, also known as the Thunderbug, KGW and LTV-N-2 Loon, was an American copy of the German V-1 flying bomb. Developed in 1944, and planned to be used in the Allied invasion of Japan (Operation Downfall), the JB-2 was ...
flying bombs –
reverse engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...
versions of the German
V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...
 – from submarines USS ''Cusk'' (SS-348) and in a series of successful tests between 1947 and 1951. During Operation Sandy, a German V-2 rocket seized by the US Army was launched from the upper deck of the aircraft carrier USS ''Midway'' (CV-41) on September 6, 1947. In the Soviet Union, German scientists contributed to the development of GOLEM-1, a liquid-fueled rocket based on the V-2 rocket design and designed to be launched from a submarine-towed capsule.


Background

The British
Area Bombing Directive The Area Bombing Directive was a directive issued by the Air Ministry of the War Cabinet to the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II on 14 February 1942. The directive ordered RAF Bomber Command to destroy Nazi Germany's industrial workfor ...
issued on February 14, 1942, focused on undermining "the morale of the enemy civil population and in particular the industrial workers". According to British philosopher
A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling (; born 3 April 1949) is a British philosopher and author. He was born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and spent most of his childhood there and in Nyasaland (now Malawi). Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philos ...
,
Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
, with its timbered medieval buildings, was chosen because the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
(RAF) Air Staff "were eager to experiment with a bombing technique using a high proportion of incendiaries" to help them carry out the directive. The RAF was aware of using a high proportion of
incendiaries Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weaponry. Incendiarie ...
during bombing raids was effective because cities such as
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
had been subject to such attacks by the
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
during
the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
. New heavy bombers, improved navigation and bombing systems, and new tactics led to a devastating increase in the effectiveness of the RAF's bombing offensive on Germany, starting with the bombing of Lübeck in March 1942. A series of follow-up attacks using a similar pattern, was mounted against
Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...
between April 24 and 27, 1942. The destruction of Lübeck and
Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...
came as a profound shock to the German leadership and population.
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
was enraged and on April 14, 1942, he ordered "that the air war against England be given a more aggressive stamp. Accordingly, when targets are being selected, preference is to be given to those where attacks are likely to have the greatest possible effect on civilian life. Besides raids on ports and industry, terror attacks of a retaliatory nature ergeltungsangriffeare to be carried out on towns other than London". In April and May 1942, the ''Luftwaffe'' designed the
Baedeker Raids The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids was a series of bombing raids by the ''Luftwaffe'' on the United Kingdom during World War II in April and May 1942. Towns and cities in England were targeted for their cultural value as part of a demoralisa ...
on British cities with the hope of forcing the Royal Air Force to reduce their actions. The ''Luftwaffe'' continued to target cities for their cultural value for the next two years. The Baedeker-type raids ended in 1944 as the Germans realized they were ineffective; unsustainable losses were being suffered for no material gain. January 1944 saw a switch to London as the principal target for retaliation. On January 21, the ''Luftwaffe'' mounted
Operation Steinbock Operation Steinbock or Operation Capricorn (), sometimes called the Baby Blitz or Little Blitz, was a strategic bombing campaign by the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe) during the Second World War. It targeted southern England and lasted from Ja ...
, an all-out attack on London using all of its available bomber force in the west. This too was largely a failure and German efforts were redirected toward the ports the Germans suspected were going to be used for the
Allied invasion of Germany The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine, a series of offensi ...
. Operation Steinbock was the last large-scale bombing campaign against England using conventional aircraft; thenceforth only the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rockets – pioneering examples of
cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...
s and
short-range ballistic missile A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of to . In past and potential regional conflicts, these missiles have been and would be used because of the short distances between some countries and their relative low c ...
s respectively – were used to strike British cities. The V-1 flying bomb – a
pulsejet file:Pulse Jet Engine.PNG, 300px, Diagram of a valved pulsejet. 1 - Air enters through valve and is mixed with fuel. 2 - The mixture is ignited, expands, closes the valve and exits through the tailpipe, creating thrust.3 - Low pressure in the engi ...
-powered cruise missile – and the V-2 rocket, a liquid-fueled ballistic missile, were long-range "retaliatory weapons" (German:) designed for
strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a systematically organized and executed military attack from the air which can utilize strategic bombers, long- or medium-range missiles, or nuclear-armed fighter-bomber aircraft to attack targets deemed vital to the enemy' ...
, particularly
terror bombing Strategic bombing is a systematically organized and executed military attack from the air which can utilize strategic bombers, long- or medium-range missiles, or nuclear-armed fighter-bomber aircraft to attack targets deemed vital to the enemy' ...
and the
aerial bombing of cities The aerial bombing of cities is an optional element of strategic bombing, which became widespread in warfare during World War I. The bombing of cities grew to a vast scale in World War II and is still practiced today. The development of aeri ...
, as retaliation for the Allied bombings against German cities. In May 1942, following the relative failure of the Baedeker Raids, the development of flying bombs and rockets to target Britain accelerated. The V-1 flying bomb, which was developed by the ''Luftwaffe'' at
Peenemünde Army Research Center The Peenemünde Army Research Center (, HVP) was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office (''Heereswaffenamt''). Several German guided missiles and rockets of World War II were developed by ...
, was the first of the so-called "Vengeance weapons" series. In July 1943, the V-1 flew and impacted within of its target. Ground-launched V-1s were propelled up a 49-m (160 ft)-long, inclined launch ramp consisting of eight modular sections long and a
muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral (ported barrel) to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter re ...
, to enable the missile to become airborne with an airflow strong enough to allow the pulse-jet engine to operate. The steam catapult accelerated the V-1 to a launch speed of , well above the minimum operational speed of . Its operational range was about 200 km (150 mi) and its maximum speed was about 640 km/h (400 mph). The V-2 rocket, with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4) – the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile – was developed by
Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...
. The first successful test flight of a V-2 rocket took place on October 3, 1942; it reached an altitude of . The missile was powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine and used a 75%
ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
/25% water mixture for fuel and
liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...
for
oxidizer An oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant, oxidizer, electron recipient, or electron acceptor) is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or " accepts"/"receives" an electron from a (called the , , or ''electron donor''). In ot ...
. The fuel and oxidizer pumps were driven by a steam turbine, and the steam was produced using concentrated
hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscosity, viscous than Properties of water, water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usua ...
with
sodium permanganate Sodium permanganate is the inorganic compound with the formula sodium, NaPermanganate, MnO4. It is closely related to the more commonly encountered potassium permanganate, but it is generally less desirable, because it is more expensive to produce ...
as a
catalyst Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...
. At launch, the V-2 rocket propelled itself for up to 65 seconds and a programmed motor held the inclination at the specified angle until engine shutdown, after which the rocket continued on a ballistic free-fall trajectory. The rocket reached a height of 80 km (50 mi) after shutting off the engine. Unlike the V-1, the V-2's speed and trajectory made it practically invulnerable to anti-aircraft guns and fighters as it dropped from an altitude of at approximately  – up to three times the speed of sound at sea level. Its operational range was about 320 km (200 mi). On May 26, 1943, Germany decided to put both the V-1 and the V-2 into production. On September 29, 1943,
Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...
publicly promised retribution against the mass bombing of German cities using a "secret weapon". On June 24, 1944, the ''
Propagandaministerium The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (, RMVP), also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda (), controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany. The ministr ...
'' (Reich Propaganda Ministry) announcement of the ''Vergeltungswaffe 1'' guided missile implied there would be another such weapon.


Development

During World War II, several projects were undertaken by the German Navy at
Peenemünde Army Research Center The Peenemünde Army Research Center (, HVP) was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office (''Heereswaffenamt''). Several German guided missiles and rockets of World War II were developed by ...
to develop submarine-launched rockets, flying bombs and missiles. These projects never reached
combat readiness Combat readiness is a condition of the armed forces and their constituent units and formations, warships, aircraft, weapon systems or other military technology and equipment to perform during combat military operations, or functions consistent ...
before the war ended and the German Navy did not use submarine-launched rockets or missiles.


Short-range rockets

According to
Walter Dornberger Major-General Dr. Walter Robert Dornberger (6 September 1895 – 26 June 1980) was a German Army artillery officer whose career spanned World War I and World War II. He was a leader of Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket programme and other projects a ...
,
Ernst Steinhoff Ernst August Wilhelm Steinhoff (February 11, 1908 – December 2, 1987) was a German rocket scientist and member of the " von Braun rocket group", at the Peenemünde Army Research Center (1939–1945). Ernst Steinhoff saw National Social ...
, the Director for Flight Mechanics, Ballistics, Guidance Control, and Instrumentation at Peenemünde Army Research Center, whose brother ''Kapitänleutnant'' Friedrich Steinhoff commanded the U-boat , originated the idea of launching solid-propellant rockets from a submerged submarine. Ernst Steinhoff was in charge of working on submarine launched rockets. Tubular metal launch frames (S''chwere Wurfgerät 41 (sWG 41)'') carrying six '' 30 cm Wurfkörper 42'' rockets were mounted on the submarine's upper deck with a 45° firing angle. From May 31 to June 5, 1942, under the code name "Project Ursel", a series of solid-fuel rocket launching experiments were carried out using submarine as a launching platform near the
Greifswalder Oie Greifswalder Oie (literally "Greifswald's isle") is a small island in the Baltic Sea, located east of Rügen and north of Usedom on the German coast. The island covers an area of about 54 hectares.Rolf Goetz, ADAC Reiseführer Usedom, ADAC Verlag ...
. Successful firings from the surface were carried out on June 4, 1942, and from up to underwater with no effect on the missiles' accuracy. The rocket system was first envisaged as a weapon against convoy escorts but with no effective guidance system, the arrangement was ineffective against moving targets and could only be used for shore bombardment. The development of this system ended in early 1943 because it was found to decrease the U-boats'
seaworthiness Seakeeping ability or seaworthiness is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea sta ...
. From 1944 to 1945, the German Navy continued to develop and successfully tested various short-range rockets that could be launched from submerged submarines at depths of up to at the naval testing station operated by the ''Torpedoversuch Anstalt
Eckernförde Eckernförde (; , sometimes also ; , sometimes also ) is a city located in the of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. Situated on the coast of the Baltic Sea, approximately 30 km north-west of Kiel, it has a populat ...
'' at
Lake Toplitz Lake Toplitz (German: ''Toplitzsee'') is a lake situated in a dense mountain forest high in the Austrian Alps, from Salzburg in western Austria. It is surrounded by cliffs and forests in the Salzkammergut lake district, within the Totes Gebirge ...
near
Bad Aussee Bad Aussee (; Central Bavarian: ''Bod Ossee'') is a town in the Austrian state of Styria, located at the confluence of the three sources of the Traun River in the Ausseerland region. Bad Aussee serves as the economic and cultural center of the St ...
, Austria. No official records on the deployment of these short-range rockets on German U-boats or their use against targets have been found. The first recorded attack on land-based targets using sea-based rockets was carried out by the US submarine on June 22, 1944, against the Japanese town Shari. The USS ''Barb'' fired 12 5-inch rockets Mk 10 Mod 0, from offshore, using a rocket launcher Mk 51 Mod 0 installed on the deck of the submarine.


V-1 flying bombs

In 1943, interest in the concept of sea-launched missiles was revived with the advent of the V-1 flying bomb; proposals were made to mount a V-1 and steam-operated launcher on a U-boat to strike targets at a much greater range than the that was possible from land-based sites. This proposal foundered because of inter-service rivalry; the V-1 was a ''Luftwaffe'' project. In September 1944, the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
received intelligence reports suggesting Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' was planning to use submarine-launched V-1s to attack cities on the east coast of the United States. A modified German submarine was spotted in a southern Norwegian port "showing a pair of rails extending from conning tower to the bow and terminating at a flat, rectangular surface", apparently modified to launch V-1s. No official records on the deployment of V-1 flying bombs on German U-boats have yet been found.


V-2 rockets

In Autumn 1943, ''
Deutsche Arbeitsfront The German Labour Front (, ; DAF) was the national labour organization of the Nazi Party, which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during the process of ''Gleichschaltung'' or Nazification. History As early as March 1933, ...
'' director
Bodo Lafferentz Bodo Lafferentz (27 July 1897 – 17 January 1974) was a member of the Nazi Party from 1933 and an '' SS-Obersturmbannführer'' (Lieutenant Colonel) from 1939. In 1937, he was made a manager along with Ferdinand Porsche and Jakob Werlin of the ...
proposed to Dornberger the idea of a towable, watertight container that could hold a V-2 rocket. The project of sea-beased V-2 rockets was code-named "Apparat F"' and the development of towable containers was commonly referred to by the codename ''Prüfstand XII'' from late 1944. The container was unmanned and unpowered, and was intended to be towed into range of its target by a U-boat then set up and launched from its gyro-stabilized platform. A report of the Peenemünde research center dated January 19, 1945, summarized the objectives of ''Prüfstand XII'':
This project opens up the possibility of attacking, with the Apparat F, off enemy coasts (for example, northern England or eastern America), very distant but strategically important targets that are currently out of range. In addition, it deceives the adversary about the real range of the missile and, at additional costs, offers new strategic and political opportunities.
Important rocket scientists such as
Klaus Riedel Klaus Riedel (2 August 1907 – 4 August 1944) was a German rocket pioneer. He was involved in many early liquid-fuelled rocket experiments, and eventually worked on the V-2 missile programme at Peenemünde Army Research Center. A Lunar crat ...
, Hans Hüter, Bernhard Tessman and
Georg von Tiesenhausen Georg Heinrich Patrick Baron von Tiesenhausen (May 18, 1914 – June 3, 2018) was a German and American rocket scientist. After being brought to the United States in 1953 as part of Operation Paperclip, he was part of Wernher von Braun's team a ...
were assigned to the project. Once in the firing position, the container's upper ballasts would be remotely emptied to reorient it from its horizontal towing position to its vertical launching position, with its bow emerging about above the surface. The container was stabilized using large rudders and was steered by a gyroscopic system. A three-person service team would leave the submarine in an inflatable boat while the firing control unit remained on board the submarine. The operators would open a hinged lid at the bow of the container to access to a servicing platform and connect the container to the submarine to power it. They would prepare the warhead and fuel the missile with
liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...
, ethanol and
sodium permanganate Sodium permanganate is the inorganic compound with the formula sodium, NaPermanganate, MnO4. It is closely related to the more commonly encountered potassium permanganate, but it is generally less desirable, because it is more expensive to produce ...
for the turbopump from fuel tanks located in the container. The missile was prepared for launch from a service room located beneath the missile chamber. The V-2 would have been guided by rails and the empty space would accommodate the ballasts. The exhaust jet was deflected 180° using collecting funnels so the jet could exit upward. This deflection would reduce the rocket thrust and its
radius of action Radius of action, combat radius, or combat range in military terms, refers to the maximum distance a ship, aircraft, or vehicle can travel away from its base along a given course with normal load and return without refueling, allowing for all safet ...
of a sea-based V-2 rocket, requiring the u-boat to come dangerously close to the coast. The armed missile would have been ready to launch 30 minutes after reaching its firing position. After the launch, the container could be abandoned or towed back to the base. Initial calculations showed at any one time, a U-boat could tow three submerged containers at
periscope depth A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...
and at a speed of An attack on US targets would require a 30-day journey to the launching position at an average speed of . Type XXI U-boats, with a range of at surfaced and at submerged, were considered to be ideal submarines to perform such attacks on the US. Problems in the development of the V-2 delayed this project until November 1944. In January 1945, Dornberger submitted over a hundred detailed draft designs. A 300-ton prototype was built by
Schichau-Werke The Schichau-Werke (F. Schichau, Maschinen- und Lokomotivfabrik, Schiffswerft und Eisengießerei GmbH) was a German engineering works and shipyard based in Elbing, Germany (now Elbląg, Poland) on the Frisches Haff (Vistula Lagoon) of then-East ...
GmbH. At the beginning of 1945, successful underwater towing trials were carried out with U-boat 1063. Although its design never reached the prototype stage, the Peenemünde engineers considered using the A-8 version of the V-2 rocket; this was a "stretched" variant that had a longer radius of action, and used
nitric acid Nitric acid is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but samples tend to acquire a yellow cast over time due to decomposition into nitrogen oxide, oxides of nitrogen. Most com ...
oxidizer An oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant, oxidizer, electron recipient, or electron acceptor) is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or " accepts"/"receives" an electron from a (called the , , or ''electron donor''). In ot ...
and
kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
propellants pressurized with nitrogen if the losses of hydrogen peroxide could not be kept under 1% per day as planned. The A-8 variant called for -long containers weighing 500 tons. Under the code-name ''Projekt Schwimmweste'' ("Project Lifejacket"), confidential reports dated January 3, 1945, and January 19, 1945, indicate the '' Stetinner Vulkanwerft'' ("Vulkan Docks") was contracted to build three containers in
Stetin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...
by March 1945 and that four test firings with different firing configurations were planned. The evacuation of Peenemünde in February 1945 and the fall of Stettin to the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
in April 1945 brought an end to these developments, and there are no records these designs were tested with a rocket launch before Germany's final collapse. The fate of the containers after the war is uncertain. According to some sources, Soviet forces captured incomplete capsules and design information. The project may have continued with the assistance of German scientists, and led to the development of GOLEM-1, a liquid-fueled rocket based on the V-2 and designed to be launched from a submarine-towed capsule. According to
Michael J. Neufeld Michael J. Neufeld is a historian and author. He chaired the Space History Division at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum from 2007 to 2011, and continues to be a curator there. Biography Neufeld was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in ...
, although generously described as a forerunner of the ballistic missile submarines, the idea of launching V2-rockets from canisters towed across the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
by U-boats embodied the mood of desperation of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II, concluding; "it is hard to see how a few -2 rocket attacks on New Yorkwould have done anything but make Americans more determined to take revenge on German cities". Frederick Ira Ordway III and Michael Sharpe considered this project "became a part of the history that may have been, given more time".


Fears of rocket attacks on U.S.

Rumors of missile-armed submarines operating from
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
with New York as the target – including one from Denmark and one from Sweden passed on by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force – emerged at the end of 1944. . The British Admiralty discounted these reports and assessed while V-1s could be potentially mounted on Type IX submarines, the Germans were unlikely to devote scarce resources to such a project. In May 1945, the American press reported an attempted attack on New York on November 7, 1944 – the day of the 1944 United States presidential election, presidential election – using a "jet-propelled or rocket-propelled weapon" launched from submarines. The US Navy said the report of the submarine attack was "without foundation"'. On November 29, 1944, German spies William Colepaugh and Erich Gimpel were landed in Maine by the Type IX U-boat#Type IXC/40, Type IXC/40 U-boat ''German submarine U-1230, U-1230'' to gather intelligence on U.S. military and technology facilities. Colepaugh was arrested on December 6; during his interrogation, Colepaugh said German U-boats were being equipped with long-range rocket launchers. Supposedly, ''U-1230'' was shadowed by a U-boat pack equipped with V-weapons with the intention of attacking New York City and Washington D.C. Although the U.S. Operation Teardrop, took the threat seriously, it never materialized and Colepaugh's claim was later disproven. The Atlantic Fleet (United Kingdom), Atlantic Fleet's commander Vice Admiral Jonas H. Ingram gave a press conference on January 8, 1945; he warned there was a threat of a missile attack and announced a large force had been assembled to counter seaborne missile launchers. In January 1945, German Minister of Armaments and War Production
Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...
made a propaganda broadcast in which he said V-1s and V-2s "would fall on New York by February 1, 1945", increasing the U.S. Government's concern over the threat of attack. In response to this threat, the U.S. Navy conducted Operation Teardrop between April and May 1945 to sink German U-boats detected heading for the East Coast of the United States, Eastern Seaboard, which were believed to be armed with V-1s or V-2s. Five of the seven German Type IX submarine, Type IX submarines that stationed off the U.S. were sunk; four with their entire crews. Thirty-three crew members were captured. Following the End of World War II in Europe, end of the war in Europe, the submarines , ''German submarine U-805, U-805'', ''German submarine U-858, U-858'' and surrendered at sea before returning to bases on the U.S. east coast. After the German surrender, the U.S. Navy continued its efforts to determine whether the U-boats had carried missiles. The crews of ''U-805'' and ''U-858'' were interrogated and confirmed their U-boats were not fitted with missile-launching equipment. ''Kapitänleutnant'' Fritz Steinhoff, who had commanded ''U-511'' during her rocket trials and was captured at sea when he surrendered , was subjected to an abusive interrogation at Portsmouth by the interviewers of ''U-546''s crew. On May 19, 1945, Steinhoff bled to death in his Boston jail cell from wrist wounds that may have been self-inflicted with the broken lens of his sunglasses. It is not known whether the Allies were aware of Steinhoff's involvement in the rocket trials. Six months after Steinhoff's death, his brother
Ernst Steinhoff Ernst August Wilhelm Steinhoff (February 11, 1908 – December 2, 1987) was a German rocket scientist and member of the " von Braun rocket group", at the Peenemünde Army Research Center (1939–1945). Ernst Steinhoff saw National Social ...
became one of the Operation Paperclip rocket scientists from Peenemünde who arrived in the U.S. to work at White Sands Missile Range.


Post-war developments


Soviet Union

After the war, Western experts were convinced the Soviet Union had developed the sea-going GOLEM 1 rocket from the V-2 rocket. The underwater-to-surface GOLEM-1, which was developed with the assistance of German scientists, is believed to have been a nuclear-capable, liquid-fueled (oxygen and alcohol), radio-inertial-guided rocket designed to be launched from a capsule towed by a submarine. The GOLEM-1 was a long rocket with a diameter of and a range of . Two or three GOLEM-1 missiles could be towed in capsules by submerged submarines. The Soviet submarine B-67, a converted Project 611 (Zulu-IV class) submarine, in the White Sea on September 16, 1955, at 17:32, launched an R-11FM (SS-N-1 Scud-A), the naval variant of the R-11 Zemlya (SS-1b Scud-A); the first submarine-launched ballistic missile that was modeled on the Wasserfall, the anti-aircraft version of the V-2 rocket and was developed by engineer Victor Makeev. The missiles were too long to be contained in the submarine's hull and extended into the enlarged Sail (submarine), sail. To be fired, the submarine had to surface and raise the missile out of the sail. Five additional Project V611 and AV611 (Zulu-V class) submarines became the world's first operational ballistic-missile submarines with two R-11FM missiles each, entering service in 1956–57. Six Zulu-class submarines that were successfully modified to carry and launch three R-11FM missiles became known by their NATO reporting name of Golf-class submarine, Golf class. Following this initial success, the R-11FM was further developed and the first underwater launch of a modified R-11FM rocket using solid instead of liquid fuel took place on December 26, 1956, from an immersed platform at a depth of . With a range of and a payload of , the R-11FM rocket officially entered service in the Navy on February 20, 1959. The Soviet Union made its first successful underwater launch of a submarine ballistic missile in the White Sea on September 10, 1960, from the same converted Project 611 submarine that first launched the R-11FM.


United States

During Operation Sandy, for the first time, a German V-2 rocket seized in Germany by the U.S. Army at the end of the war was launched from a ship at sea, several hundred miles south of Bermuda. The launch took place on September 6, 1947, from the upper deck of the aircraft carrier USS ''Midway'' (CV-41). The first sea-based launch of a missile by the U.S. Navy occurred on February 12, 1947, from the upper deck of the submarine USS ''Cusk'' (SS-348). Codenamed "Loon", a naval version of the Republic-Ford JB-2, a reversed-engineered copy of the German V-1 flying bomb was successfully launched off Point Mugu, California. The JB-2 "Loon" was developed to be carried in watertight containers mounted on the aft deck of submarines. was modified to provide mid-course guidance for JB-2 "Loon". These successful tests led to the development of submarine-launched cruise missiles. The U.S. Navy's success in adapting a variant of the V-1 to be launched from submarines also demonstrated the technically feasibility of the development by the German navy. By 1953, the USS Tunny (SS-282), USS ''Tunny'' had been adapted into a true missile submarine but it was still an awkward process to launch the SSM-N-8 Regulus, Regulus cruise missile, a nuclear-capable turbojet-powered, second-generation cruise missile that developed from the tests conducted with the German V-1 flying bomb. The submarine had to surface and the missile was manually loaded from storage onto a launch rail on the submarine's deck before it could be launched. The U.S.'s first operational ballistic missile submarine, USS George Washington (SSBN-598), USS ''George Washington'', standing out into the Eastern Range, Atlantic Missile Test Range, successfully conducted the first UGM-27 Polaris missile launch from a submerged submarine on July 20, 1960, establishing the nuclear deterrent role for missile submarines. In March 2010, Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III, in a speech on missile defense, stated:
Although Project Laffarenz did not come to fruition, it illustrates how our adversaries will always be reaching for new and ingenious ways to cause us harm. Their tactics may make straightforward use of weapons systems we are prepared to defend against. But they may also marry high and low technologies in unexpected combinations, forcing us to quickly adapt.


See also

* USS Barb (SS-220) *Japanese I-400-class submarine, ''I-400''-class submarine aircraft carrier *Japanese Type AM submarine aircraft carrier *Sea Dragon (rocket)


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Rocket U-Boat Program
{{V-weapons V-weapons World War II submarines of Germany Ballistic missile submarines