Thomas Broadbent’s D-Day Submarine X-20

X-21 nearing completion in Broadbent’s yard in Huddersfield — without any visible COPP modifications.

The Broadbent engineering family has a long connection with Kirkheaton dating back to the turn of the 20^th century when they generated the first electricity for the village at Hillside. Thomas Broadbent’s engineering works continues to play an important role in the local economy today producing centrifuges for a range of industries.

The firm also played an important role during the Second World War. Brian Broadbent supervised the building of six X-craft midget submarines for the Royal Navy. X-20 and X-21 were built in Broadbent’s own works in Huddersfield, whilst the work on the other four was split between firms in Chesterfield and Gainsborough. Great secrecy surrounded the building of these submarines.  One of the apprentice engineers working on the X-craft was the father of Fiona Whitwham, who lived in Kirkheaton. He told her how the men working on them did not actually know what they were. He also mentioned how when one of the submarines was tested on the canal it sank much to the disappointment of everyone involved. Eventually once the problems were ironed out the completed X-craft left the factory disguised as motorboats. X-20 and X-21 were transported by train from Huddersfield railway station) to the Royal Navy base at Faslane in Scotland where they were launched.

Each submarine was 51 feet long, had a diameter of 5 feet 6 inches and weighed 27 tons. Powered by the same engine as a London bus they had a top speed of 6.5 knots on the surface and 5.5 knots submerged. The four-man crew consisted of the commander, a pilot, an engineer and a diver.

The X-craft are probably most famous for their attacks on enemy warships, particularly the German battleship Tirpitz in September 1943. However, their small size also saw them being used in other roles. X-20 was used to help plan the D-Day Landings. During the disastrous British-Canadian raid on Dieppe in August 1942 half of the Allied tanks were unable to get off the shingle beach and were destroyed. The D-Day planners needed to know whether the invasion beaches they had chosen were suitable for the thousands of tanks and vehicles which would pass over them. In January 1944 five men crammed into X-20 and headed for the Normandy coast. X-20’s commander Lieutenant Hudspeth (Royal Australian Navy) navigated the submarine to a position just over a mile offshore close enough to observe the Germans through his periscope.  During the next two nights two divers swam ashore to three different locations to collect information and core samples from the beach. Using the core samples, which the divers had sealed in condoms, scientists and engineers reconstructed the French beach at Cairnryan in Scotland. A series of tests then established that the beach itself would present no problems to the invading American tanks and troops who would be using it on D-Day. Indeed, the beach would be the least of their worries – the core samples brought back by X-20 had come from what would be Omaha Beach.

X-20’s involvement with D-Day did not end there. Two X-craft were selected to guide the Allied fleet to the invasion beaches using navigation beacons and other aids. X-23 would mark the eastern extent of Sword Beach for the British Army, whilst Lieutenant Hudspeth’s X-20 marked the western extent of Juno Beach for the Canadian Army.

The two midget submarines were the first vessels of the 7,000-strong Allied invasion fleet to sail when they left Portsmouth on 2^nd June 1944. The crews had French identities and wore civilian clothes in case they were captured or drowned. By dawn on 4^th June X-20 was in position lying 1½ miles offshore. During the day the crew observed the Germans playing football on the beach. At night the submarine surfaced so the crew could get some fresh air and stretch their legs a little on the hull.

Both submarines were very cramped. Each one carried an additional crewman and a great deal of extra equipment for the mission. This included three dinghies, navigation lights to guide in the incoming ships, 12 extra oxygen cylinders, bottles of water not to mention cases of baked beans. The latter seems very strange when the planners behind the operation were so concerned about air quality inside the X-craft!

The two crews were expecting D-Day to be on 5^th June, but the coded message ‘For Padfoot, Unwell in Scarborough’ told them it would be postponed for 24 hours. Buffeted by the sea and starting to tire both crews kept alert by taking Benzedrine tablets (a type of amphetamine). The two submarines surfaced in the early hours of 6^th June. Each X-craft had several means of signalling to the incoming ships. They included the submarine’s echo sounder, green navigation lights facing out to sea on the top of an 18-foot-long mast and lights in the submarine’s dinghies. If all else failed there was the ‘Great Bong’, a long hammer used for striking the hull of the submarine. The noise would carry underwater to the incoming ships.

Even with their navigational aids both submarine crews were concerned about being sunk by the incoming invasion fleet.  The crew of X-23 flew a large Royal Navy ensign to make sure it could be seen. By the end of D-Day both submarine crews were exhausted by the time they rendezvoused with their mother ships. X-23 was filmed doing so and there is a short interview with her captain which can be viewed on YouTube. Relief crews took over the two submarines for the journey home. They confirmed that the air quality inside both X-craft was truly awful! Once back in the Solent the crews were exchanged again. Both submarines entered Portsmouth to a hero’s welcome. Lieutenant Hudspeth, the commander of X-20, was awarded a third Distinguished Service Cross and finished the war as one of Australia’s most highly decorated servicemen.

Of the six submarines which were constructed under Brian Broadbent’s supervision one still survives. X-24 can be seen in the Royal Navy’s Submarine Museum at Gosport. X-20 was sunk in a Royal Navy submarine test in 1945.

JLL

Sources

1.COPP Survey website https://www.coppsurvey.co.uk

2. Occasional Paper 46: Lieutenant Kenneth Robert Hudspeth DSC, Royal Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve (Naval Historical Society of Australia)

3.The Huddersfield Examiner

4.The Real X-Men – The Heroic Story of the Underwater War, 1942-45 by Robert Lyman

5.X3 to X54: The History of the British Midget Submarine by Keith Hall

Tags for this article: