Rocket U-Boats: V-1 Missile Attack New York 1945

[Music] January 1945 the US eastern seaboard a hunt is underway a hunt for u-boats but this is no ordinary hunt for the Americans have credible information through the u-boats approaching their Shore and no ordinary German submarines rather these boats are rocket u-boats about to unleash v1 flying bombs on New York City the Americans we use everything at their disposal to stop this diabolical German plan from being enacted mounting Rockets on u-boats was not a late-war idea rather experiments in trying to perfect submarine launch weapons had been ongoing since as early as 1941 Penniman de on the baltic island of user dom was where germany developed its rockets and missiles in the first half of the war summer 1942 was the first firing of rockets off the deck of a u-boat when a sphere has VF Garrett 41 rocket launcher was welded to the deck of the type 9 sea submarine you 5-1-1 loaded with 630 centimeter rockets the u-boat conducted successful firing tests at the surface then it made a series of underwater launches down to a depth of 12 meters or 40 feet the Rockets work fine and were unimpeded by being submerged but though such tests proved that a u-boat could launch such weapons surfaced or submerged the weapons themselves were effectively little more than dumb mortar bombs the u-boat having no way of controlling the Rockets as they lacked a suitable guidance system the mortar system was intended to protect the u-boat from anti-submarine hunter forces but it was too inaccurate to be of much practical use at sea further development of the underwater mortar was neglected as Payne Amanda worked to perfect the first of Hitler's new V for vengeance weapons the v1 flying bomb the v1 was an early cruise missile powered by a single pulse jet engine the v1 was launched off a ramp using a steam generator guided by a simple autopilot that regulated altitude and airspeed the v1 carried a 1000 kilogram explosive warhead an odometer driven by a small propeller in the nose determined when the missile had reached the target area and when the preset counter reaches zero the v1 automatically placed itself into a steep dive to impact the target used to bombard London these cheap weapons landed accurately within a circle initially 20 miles or 32 kilometers in diameter corresponding to the entirety of London later improved to 7 miles or 11 kilometers 9521 V ones were launched at England with about 25% hitting targets the rest falling to flat guns barrage balloons fighter interception or mechanical failure they killed six thousand one hundred and eighty four people and injured three times as many and destroyed or damaged a million buildings with the v1 perfected the notion of mounting V ones on u-boats was suggested in July 1943 he was an attractive idea with a range of a hundred and forty-eight miles or two hundred and thirty-eight kilometers it would provide a u-boat with a standoff capability able to strike a target not very accurately from over the horizon because it was on a u-boat it could be sent against any city in the world and at the forefront of many minds was the idea of bombarding cities along the u.s. eastern seaboard New York City being the most obvious target several V ones in a disassembled state could be stored aboard a u-boat as reloads to launch a v1 a ramp and a catapult was needed an early development work commenced on designing a system that could be emplaced onto one of Germany's existing u-boat desires but at the same time German scientists were already thinking much bigger than the v1 for the new v2 missile had been created the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile the v2 cost between five and ten times the cost of manufacturing v1 but had a much increased operational range of 200 miles or 320 kilometers could be launched by mobile units rather than in fixed locations vulnerable to air attack and was impossible to detect or shoot down as it plummeted onto its target and an astounding 1790 miles per hour or two thousand eight hundred and eighty kilometers an hour these fearsome weapons bombard at London and southeast England between September 1944 and March 1945 over 3000 v2 s killing about 9,000 people injuring tens of thousands and causing huge damage to property with the deteriorating war situation for Germany by late 1944 using the v2 against the United States specifically in New York City again became a German concern but unlike the v1 the v2 was a much bigger technical challenge for one thing its size alone meant that no existing u-boat was large enough to even carry one project proof stunt 12 began development of a submarine cargo container that could accommodate 1v2 and be towed across the ocean to the US coast by one of the new type 21 electro boats a revolutionary new design of u-boat years ahead of its time it was envisaged that a single type xxi could tow up to three of these submerge v2 containers each displacing about 500 tons as well as a V to each container also held a reserve of diesel fuel to supply the type xxi during its long journey as well as all the complicated fuels and chemicals required to launch a v2 arriving at the firing point ballast tanks in the container would be flooded bringing the container to a vertical position the guidance system would be set and then the missile launched remotely from the mother u-boat however the technical difficulties in trying to adapt to v2 for launch at sea were immense the v2 is engine required a two-component fuel which demanded careful and long control before launching the missile could not be transported fully fueled as the tanks would collapse if fuelled in the horizontal position the entire process of setting up fuelling and launching a v2 on land was quite long and laborious requiring large numbers of vehicles and technicians however Germany pressed ahead with constructing the first underwater containers each 30 metres long orders for three containers were placed at a shipyard instead him in December 1944 and a further order at another yard at L being in Germany it appears that at least one container was completed and testing started in the winter and spring of 1945 but the Germans never perfected the equipment before the war ended but though the Germans never managed to perfect v2 arm u boats Allied intelligence had information that such a program was underway and understandably considering the Germans had been raining down v ones and V twos on London and southeast England fear that the project was actually more advanced than it was the information that v1 armed u-boats would be sent to attack New York City from German spy Oscar mantle who was captured by the US Navy when the u-boat transporting him to Maine was sunk in September 1944 Mantell told the FBI that v1 armed submarines were being prepared for a mission aerial reconnaissance of u-boat bases in Norway revealed several odd mountings on u-boat decks perhaps launching ramps for V once further analysis revealed that they were actually ramps for loading torpedoes but then a few weeks later other reports of v1 armed u-boats emerged one via neutral Sweden although the British Admiralty believed that the Germans could launch V ones from their large type 9 u-boats owing to the strategic situation would the Germans waste time and resources on such small-scale attacks on America the US government thought so in the eastern sea frontier a u.s. operational command defending the u.s. coast from Canada to Florida was ordered in November 1944 to begin intensive anti you boat patrols up to 250 miles or 400 kilometers from New York City then more confirmation arrived that further reinforced and u.s. mines the reality of the threat the nation faced you one two three Oh successfully landed two German agents in Maine in December 1944 William Kolb you and Eric Gimple were subsequently captured in New York City like men tell the two agents reported that rocket armed u-boats were coming next on the 10th of December New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia went public with the threat creating huge media interest in the story six days later the massive German offensive came rolling through the Ardennes Forest of Belgium and Luxembourg through weak American defenses in an enemy who was supposed to be nearly beaten was instead beating back the Americans and advancing once again West the US Navy took the u-boat threat very seriously and prepared what came to be called Operation teardrop marshalling US Navy hunter-killer groups and usaaf aircraft to destroy any u-boats that approached the American coast the forces were ready by the 8th of January 1945 shortly afterwards German armaments minister Albert Speer made a radio broadcast in which he said New York City could expect v1 and v2 s to fall by the 1st of February 1945 further fueling US government concerns then in March 1945 US intelligence learned of the departure of nine u-boats from Norway headed for the North American coast on the 12th of April 1945 the u-boat pack received the codename grouper zeevala and their purpose was to attack shipping from New York southwards to divert and his submarine forces away from British coastal waters where a fresh ensure u-boat campaign was planned the Americans quickly concluded that groupers evolved were missile armed u-boats an operation teardrop swung into action a huge naval force including two escort carriers and 20 destroyer escorts sorted from the hampton roads 12 of the destroyers began searching in the lion 120 miles or a hundred and ninety kilometers long groupers a wolf found no targets his convoys had been diverted away from them the boats frequent radio communications with u-boat command in Germany enabled us hunter forces to plot their movements with ease first to be attacked was you 1 2 3 5 bombarded by the Hedgehog mortar aboard the destroyer escort USS Stanton on the 15th of April 1945 the German submarine escaped but was reacquired by sonar and with USS Frost Stanton destroyed it early on the 16th of April all hands being lost USS Frost then found u88 oh by radar on the surface frost opened fire with Bofors 40 millimeter guns forcing u88 Oh to crash dive in company with the USS Stanton the destroyer escorts sank the u-boat with Hedgehog at 4 a.m. on the 16th of April killing all aboard interestingly both you 1 2 3 5 and you 8 8 0 exploded with great force reinforcing in American minds of the vessels have been carrying v1 flying bombs you 805 was caught by aircraft on the surface on the 18th and 19th of April but not attacked on the 20th of April ironically Hitler's last birthday you 805 launched torpedoes at a hunting US destroyer escort but missed the night of the 21st you 805 escaped after two hours of depth charging by 3 destroyer escorts but on the night of the 21st to 22nd of April the USS Carter detected you five one eight Hedgehog by Carter and another destroyer escort you five one eight blew up there were no survivors a more southerly search by 14 destroyer escorts netted more results realizing the disaster that was unfolding on the night of the 22nd to 23rd of April u-boat command dissolved groupers a wolf and ordered three of the remaining boats to take station between New York City and Halifax in Nova Scotia to interdict convoys it also ordered three more u-boats which have been operating independently of groupers evolve to join the others halide decryption of these signals told the Americans of the v1 armed u-boats were to launch against New York City but as the u-boat sell to their new positions interceptions were made on the 23rd of April an Avenger dropped depth charges on you 881 the u-boats survived next day you 5 for 6 maneuver to try and torpedo the escort carrier USS core but was detected by the destroyer escort USS Frederick C Davis at 8:30 a.m. you 546 immediately fired at e5 acoustic torpedo at the u.s. ship sinking her with the loss of a hundred and twenty six of her crew you 546 was hunted relentlessly for 10 hours by 8 destroyer escorts the damaged u-boat surfacing her captain and 32 of the crew were taken prisoner these prisoners were heavily and brutally interrogated ashore including being beaten up to force information about German plans out of them but no information about v1s was forthcoming and the ill treatment continued until the end of the war in Europe the fifth and last you boat to be destroyed was you 881 depth-charge to destruction on the 5th of May 1945 the surviving four u-boats surrendered at sea on the 7th of May 1945 novi ones were discovered aboard any of the boats the captain's and certain members of the crews were all subjected to harsh interrogations he will be recalled that the British Admiralty had believed that the Germans were capable of launching v1 missiles off u-boats and after the war the US Navy actually made some practical experiments firing the American copy of the v1 the kuv one one off the submarine USS Cusk in 1946 it was a slow process taking about an hour to prepare and launch the rocket that the u.s. navy proved that the German plan with a few refinements could have worked and a few V ones could conceivably have been launched at US cities thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also help support my channel at PayPal and patreon details in the description box [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 2,659,837

Rating: 4.9202175 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, U-Boat, Rocket U-Boats, V-1 Missile, V-2 Rocket, New York City

Id: wHUCV_EDOFI

Length: 15min 48sec (948 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/an_actual_lawyer]

The V1 was pretty damn inaccurate to begin with, I doubt submerging it would do anything for accuracy.

In any case, V1 strikes would be a small nuisance, at most.

[u/vonHindenburg]

H'mm... Sounds like a Mark Felton title. <Clicks link> Yup.

[u/Trades46]

So a very early proto TLAM?

[u/Darth_Gasseous]

Not much practical damage, yes, but it would have definitely inspired terror.

[u/CreideikiVAX]

Okay everyone say it with me: The V-1 isn't a rocket, it's a cruise missile.

[u/DerekL1963]

I can save you the time of watching the lame video: though the Allies believed they could, the Germans couldn't attack the US with cruise missiles and never even tried. The video title is clickbait.