Stickleback-class submarine

X51 Stickleback at Imperial War Museum Duxford
History
United Kingdom
Name	Stickleback class
General characteristics
Type	Midget submarine
Displacement	35.2 tons surfaced 39.27 tons submerged
Length	50 ft 8 in (15.44 m) (pp) 53 ft 10 in (16.41 m) (oa)
Beam	6 ft (1.8 m)
Draught	7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Propulsion	1 shaft diesel electric, 1 Perkins P6 6 cyl diesel, 1 electric motor, 50 bhp/44 shp
Speed	6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph) surfaced 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) submerged
Complement	5
Armament	2 detachable 2-ton side charges

The Stickleback-class submarines were midget submarines of the British Royal Navy initially ordered as improved versions of the older XE-class submarines. They were designed to allow British defences to practice defending against midget submarines since it was theorised that the Soviet Union had or could develop such craft.[1]

The Royal Navy developed plans to use these craft to carry a 15-kiloton nuclear naval mine (based on the Red Beard weapon) codenamed Cudgel into Soviet harbours.[1] The project was unsuccessful as there were problems finding and paying for the necessary fissile material.[2]

Boats

There were four boats, launched 1954–1955:[2]

• X51 Stickleback, launched 1 October 1954, sold to the Royal Swedish Navy in 1958 and was renamed Spiggen (Swedish name for "Stickleback"). After a period on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, and then in storage at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, X51 was moved to the Scottish Submarine Centre[3] in Helensburgh, where it has been on display since 2018.[4]
• X52 Shrimp, launched October 1954, scrapped 1965
• X53 Sprat, launched 30 December 1954, loaned to US Navy 1958, scrapped 1966
• X54 Minnow, launched 5 May 1955, scrapped 1966

Citations

1. Paloczi-Horvath, George (1996). From Monitor to Missile Boat Coast Defence Ships and Coastal Defence since 1860. Conway Maritime Press. p. 120. ISBN 0-85177-650-7.
2. Gardiner and Chumbley, p. 527
3. ((http://www.scottishsubmarine.com))
4. "X-51 is here! Helensburgh museum's submarine arrives in Scotland". Helensburgh Advertiser. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.

References

• Preston, Antony (2001). The Royal Navy submarine service : a centennial history. London: Conway Maritime. ISBN 978-0851778914.
• Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1557501327.