Type XVIII U-Boat, U-1407, pictured in Barrows Devonshire Dock.
Built as one of six vessels in the Type XVIII (18) class by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, U-1407 was laid down on 13th November 1943 and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 13th March 1945. The Type XVIII U-Boats were the precursor to the Type XXI (21) boats. They were shorter than the Type XXI boats and were effectively built as test beds for the Walter high test peroxide (HTP) power plant.
As the war finished, all six vessels were scuttled having never seen active service. U-1407 and her sister ship U-1406 were scuttled on 5th May 1945 at Cuxhaven, in the British Zone of Occupation. Found and raised not long after, the boats were split between the US, Soviet Union and the UK, who received 2, 3 and 1 vessels respectively.
U-1407 was rebuilt by the Vickers yard at Barrow in Furness and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Meteorite in 1945 for evaluation of the Walther HTP turbine. Because she was intended to be used solely for trials and possibly as a high-speed anti-submarine target, her torpedo tubes were removed. Professor Walther and his staff came from Germany in 1946 to Barrow to advise during the rebuilding.
Vickers carried out trials which lead to the building of the Ex class HTP powered submarines HMS Excalibur and HMS Explorer, also at Barrow. This substance provided incredible power and long underwater range, and made the Ex Class subs the fastest non-nuclear submarines ever built. However the instability of HTP and its penchant for unprovoked combustion put paid to this form of submarine power, especially in light of the newly developed US and Soviet nuclear powered boats.
Fitted with a modified conning tower in October 1948, she was finally broken up in September 1949 by T.W. Ward Ltd. at Barrow. However in testament to her designers abilities, one of the diesel plants she carried was installed to provide auxiliary power into one of the workshops at the Barrow yard, where it continued to provide sterling service until 1967.
By Ian Shumsky on Jul 15, 2010
It seems that HTP powered subs are not a thing of the past! The Indian military are investing $11bn to become the first non-Western nation to deploy “air independent propulsion” (AIP) submarine technology.
Read more on The Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/14/indian_aip_sub_order/
By Norman Stewart on Apr 27, 2011
HMS Woodbridge Haven, Rothesay Bay 1949
I believe that HMS Meteorite (Ex-U1407), TypeXVIIB, Walter type coastal U-Boat and not a type XVIII which as far as I am aware was the designation for the small coastal Electro boats.
My father, Alex Stewart served on HMS Woodbridge Haven from 15/12/1948 until 29/06/1949, while she conducted trials with the Meteorite up and down the west coast of Scotland, based on Rothesay Bay.
He was onboard HMS Woodbridge Haven in late 1948 / early 1949 when she collected HMS Meteorite from Barrow-in-Furness, where he maintained she was built, he was unaware of her origins and previous history.
My Dad told me that during the course of the trials up and down the west coast of Scotland that the Meteorite would be travelling submerged at high speed, popping smoke floats every so often, with the Woodbridge Haven chugging along behind, flat out and failing to keep up! Apparently on occassions the smoke floats were disappearing over the horizon!
Wooodbridge Haven’s maximum designed speed was only 20 knots.
I have a photograph of HMS Woodbridge Haven, Rothesay Bay which dates to my father’s time onboard during 1949.
By George Lipscomb on Nov 25, 2011
My partner’s father-in-law, who retired as a Rear Admiral, served in submarines; and we have from him a German Model of a Typ XV11 U Boat – probably U1407 (later HMS Meteorite). The model is meticulous in detail; so I am intrigued by a rotating structure, 3m across, on the fore casing. Could this conceivably have been a radar nacelle?
For the record, I served some months of 1957 in HMS Excalibur.