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The Royal Navy's X-craft

"MSW Crew-mate Andrew Ayling (jester_ara) sends us some fine images of his build of the The Royal Navy's X-craft!"

X-Craft History...

The X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44.

Known individually as X-Craft, the vessels were designed to be towed to their intended area of operations by a full-size 'mother' submarine - (usually one of the T class or S class) - with a passage crew on board, the operational crew being transferred from the towing submarine to the X-Craft by dinghy when the operational area was reached, the passage crew returning with the dinghy to the towing submarine. Once the attack was over, the X-Craft would rendezvous with the towing submarine and then be towed home. Range was limited primarily by the endurance and determination of their crews, but was thought to be up to 14 days in the craft or 1,500 miles (2,400 km) distance after suitable training. Actual range of the X-Craft itself was 500 nmi (926 km) surfaced and 82 nmi (152 km) at 2 knots submerged.

The craft were about 51 feet (15.5 m) long, 5.5 feet (1.68 m) in maximum diameter and displaced 27 tons surfaced and 30 tons submerged. Propulsion was by a 4-cylinder Gardner 42 hp diesel engine, converted from a type used in London buses, and a 30 hp electric motor, giving a maximum surface speed of 6.5 knots (12 km/h), and a submerged speed of 5.5 knots (10.1 km/h). The crew initially numbered three—commander, pilot and ERA—but soon a specialist diver was added, for which an airlock, known as a wet and dry compartment, was provided.

The Royal Navy's X-craft were used for a number of operations in WWII, most famously, damaging the Tirpitz in Alten Fjord, but also used to attack facilities in Bergen, survey the Normandy beaches before D-Day and to attack the IJN Cruiser Takao.

The sole armament available to the four-man crew was the two huge side-charges, designed to be dropped under the target vessel.

the model...

The X-craft is the Accurate Armour 1/35 scale resin kit, built straight from the box.

The assembly is really straight forward - the hull is cast in three sections– bow, mid and stern, with separate saddle charges and hydroplanes, plus a few fittings. Everything was painted with tamiya acrylics and weathered with oils.