Comments on: From U-1407 to HMS Meteorite

By: George Lipscomb

George Lipscomb — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:38:19 +0000

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.

By: Norman Stewart

Norman Stewart — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:35:11 +0000

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: Ian Shumsky

Ian Shumsky — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:19:31 +0000

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.