Carrying the attack towards Norway
Stubborn sailed with X.7 in tow on 11 September 1943. The midget submarine’s operational crew travelled in the larger submarine while a passage crew kept X.7 working during the voyage. The official despatch’s crew list identifies Lieutenant A. A. Duff as Stubborn’s commanding officer. YT-T01
A later target allocation assigned X.7, X.6 and X.5 to Tirpitz. Delivering X.7 to the approach was Stubborn’s contribution; the attack inside the anchorage belonged to the midget submarine and its own crew.
Waiting beyond the attack
X-craft able to return from the operation were to seek the submarines waiting offshore. Alternative recovery arrangements involved bays on the coast of Sørøya. The towing submarines had to search without knowing how many craft had survived or where they would appear. YT-T01
The sea itself complicated the task. On 22 September, Stubborn found that a current had carried her inside the declared mined area. She regained safer water. The despatch records the incident as part of the operation’s hazards, not as an encounter with a confirmed mine.
Finding a different craft
In the early hours of 28 September, Stubborn approached the entrance to O Fjord and saw the prearranged identification signal on a blue lamp. The returning craft was X.10, which had originally sailed with Sceptre. Short of towing gear, Stubborn passed an improvised tow and took her to sea. YT-T01
Bad conditions delayed the crew transfer until the following evening. X.7’s passage crew then took over X.10, allowing her exhausted operational crew to come aboard Stubborn. The recovery depended on men and equipment being reassigned as circumstances changed.
Saving the men when the tow could not be saved
On 3 October the tow parted again. Stubborn recovered and reused the serviceable parts of her last towing wire, but could make only very slow progress. With worse weather forecast, the admiral authorised taking off the crew and scuttling X.10 at the commanding officer’s discretion. The men were recovered before the craft was sunk that evening. Stubborn reached Lerwick on 5 October. YT-T01
The despatch acknowledges that the forecast gale arrived later than expected. It still doubted that X.10, at the towing speed then possible, could have reached safety in time. The decision belongs to what the crews knew and could attempt at sea, not simply to the weather observed afterwards.
Read Beneath the Defences for the attack and the X-craft profile for the small boats. This account follows the official published despatch; Stubborn’s complete patrol report has not yet been compared with it.