Two crews, two journeys
For the long passage, full-sized submarines towed the X-craft. Passage crews manned the small boats while their operational crews travelled aboard the towing submarines. The official account records X.6 with Truculent, X.5 with Thrasher and X.7 with Stubborn. The arrangement preserved the distinction between delivering a craft and fighting it inside the anchorage. YT-T01
Even under tow, the X-craft had to surface periodically to ventilate. Their small size helped make the final approach possible but did not remove the demands of a sea passage.
Placing the weapon
The craft carried explosive charges that could be released beside or beneath the target. The later official reconstruction describes four charges, each weighing two tons, laid by X.6 and X.7. This is the weight reported for each charge, not a newly verified figure for its explosive filling. YT-T01
Getting them into position required navigating nets, shallow water and the ship’s immediate defences. The account describes X.6’s flooded periscope and disabled compass; X.7 repeatedly became entangled and used air while trying to free herself. The attack was a succession of decisions with damaged equipment.
Escape was another operation
X.6 was scuttled and her four men taken aboard Tirpitz. X.7’s abandonment ended with two men surviving and two missing. The despatch records these outcomes alongside the attack, rather than treating the release of the charges as the end of the crews’ story. YT-T01
The precise contribution of X.5 remains unresolved in the inspected evidence.
Success measured in repair time
Tirpitz remained afloat. Yet the subsequent German record of repair, trials and training shows why sinking was not the only consequential outcome. Disabling machinery and delaying a return to effective service could alter what the ship could threaten for months. YT-T18
Continue with Beneath the Defences and Repairing a Battleship.