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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocket U-boat | 3/5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_U-boat | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:26:17.134932+00:00 | kb-cron |
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, Hans Hüter, Bernhard Tessman and Georg von Tiesenhausen 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 5 m (16 ft) 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, ethanol and sodium permanganate 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 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 and at a speed of 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) An attack on US targets would require a 30-day journey to the launching position at an average speed of 10–12 knots (19–22 km/h; 12–14 mph). Type XXI U-boats, with a range of 15,500 nautical miles (28,700 km; 17,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced and 340 nmi (630 km; 390 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) 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 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 oxidizer and kerosene 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 32 m (105 ft)-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 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 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, although generously described as a forerunner of the ballistic missile submarines, the idea of launching V2-rockets from canisters towed across the Atlantic Ocean 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 [V-2 rocket attacks on New York] would 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. ==