Newbury Scale Model Club

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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.