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voor de liefhebbers van midget submarines :)

GPM 265 - U-Boot Biber
model card

print, cut and glue :)

The Biber (German for "beaver") was a German midget submarine of the Second World War. Armed with two externally mounted 21-inch (53 cm) torpedoes or mines they were the smallest submarine in the Kriegsmarine. Her hasty development in spring 1944 (incorporating developments from a captured Welman submarine) to attack coastal shipping and help meet the threat of an Allied invasion of Europe and the resulting basic technical flaws combined with the inadequate training of her crews, meant she never posed a real threat to either of these, despite 324 being delivered. One of the class's few successes was against the Alan A. Dale.

A number have survived in museums including one example that has been restored to operational condition.

Development
Construction of the first prototype began in February 1944 and was completed in less than 6 weeks. The initial prototype was officially titled Bunteboot (but better known as Adam) was heavily influenced by the British Welman. It differed from the final design in a number of respects such as being nearly 2 meters shorter. Following testing on the Trave river on the 29th of May twenty four Bibers were ordered.

The hull was built in three sections composed of 3 mm thick steel with an aluminium alloy conning tower bolted to the top. The conning tower contained armoured glass windows to allow the pilot to see out. The hydroplanes and rudder were made of wood and trying to control them while tracking the depth gage, compass and periscope made the craft hard to handle. Adding to the pilot’s difficulties the craft lacked compensating and trimming tanks making staying at periscope depth a near impossibility. The Biber had two diving tanks one in the bow section and one in the stern.

The submarine could be armed with either two TIIIc torpedoes with neutral buoyancy (achieved by limiting the number of batteries on board), mines or a mixture of the two.

The Biber was powered on the surface by a 32hp Otto blitz petrol engine which was used despite concerns about the risks posed by the carbon monoxide the engine gave off. The engine had the advantage of being cheap and available in large numbers. Propulsion while submerged was provided by a 13 horse power electric motor powered by three Type T13 T210 battery troughs.

Operation
Biber operations were carried out under the auspices of the K-Verband, a German naval unit which operated a mixture of midget submarines and explosive speedboats. The training of Biber operators was originally planned to take eight weeks, but the initial group of pilots was rushed through in just three weeks. Planning also called for flotillas of 30 boats and pilots with just under 200 shore support crew.

Operations generally lasted from one to two days with pilots either using a drug known as DIX to stay awake on longer missions or caffeine-laced chocolate. The poor quality of the Biber's periscope meant that night attacks had to be carried out on the surface...

Thanks to SSBN :)