Sleeping Beauty, Another underwater apparatus Christian Lambertsen helped advance was the motorized submersible canoe, nicknamed: Sleeping Beauty.The ‘Sleeping Beauty’ submersible canoe was built by the British SOE to hold a single frogman to conduct clandestine reconnaissance or attacks against enemy vessels. It earned its nickname when a British officer walked past the canoe and found its creator asleep in the craft.
The canoe was 12 feet 8 inches long and the navigator could expect to spend 10 hours or more in the vessel when on a mission.
The top secret canoe was brought to the US in 1944, and Christian began an intense program to train the OSS on how to use the boat; but not before he adjusted its tactical use.
Sleeping BeautyInstead of navigating the vehicle directly up to a target, he trained the swimmers to anchor the canoe within several hundred yards of the target. From there the frogman would swim to the target, place the demolition charge on it and swim back to the Sleeping Beauty.This concept paved the way for the swimmer delivery vehicle – used by the Navy’s UDTs and SEALs – years later.
The Silent Saboteur: A History of the Motorised Submersible Canoe
Origins and the Genius of “Station IX”
The story of the Motorised Submersible Canoe (MSC) begins in 1942 at Station IX, a secret SOE development center located at The Frythe, a country house near Welwyn Garden City. It was the brainchild of Major Hugh Reeves, a prolific inventor responsible for various “spy gadgets,” including the Welrod silent pistol.
The British military needed a way to deliver frogmen and explosives into heavily guarded enemy harbors where larger submarines could not venture. While the Italians had successfully used the Maiale (human torpedo), Reeves envisioned something more streamlined, smaller, and capable of being operated by a single person.
Design and Specifications
The MSC earned its nickname “Sleeping Beauty” when Reeves was found sleeping in the craft by a fellow officer. Despite the gentle name, it was a formidable tool of war:
- Structure: A 12.8-foot (3.9 m) long hull made of mild steel.
- Propulsion: Powered by an electric motor and four 6-volt batteries, allowing for a top speed of about 4.4 knots (8 km/h) on the surface and 3.5 knots submerged.
- Range: It had an operational range of approximately 30 to 40 nautical miles.
- Operation: The pilot sat in an open cockpit, wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus (Siebe Gorman Amphibian MkC). To submerge, the pilot would flood the central buoyancy tank; to rise, they would use a hand pump or compressed air to expel the water.
Training at Mountbatten’s Command
Training for “Sleeping Beauty” pilots was grueling and took place primarily at Argyle Court in Scotland and in the waters around Portsmouth. Pilots had to master the art of “porpoising”—repeatedly diving and surfacing to check their bearings without being spotted.
The craft was designed to carry “limpet mines.” The pilot would navigate into an enemy harbor, submerge near a target ship, steer the canoe underneath the hull, and attach the mines using magnets or clamps before slipping away into the darkness.
Operational History
The MSC saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters, though its deployment was often limited by the extreme physical demands placed on the pilots.
- Operation Rimau (1944): The most famous (and tragic) use of the MSC was during Operation Rimau, an attack on Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon, a team of Australian commandos used MSCs launched from a junk. While they successfully sank several ships, the group was eventually discovered. All 23 men involved were either killed in action or executed by the Japanese after being captured.
- Post-War Influence: Although the advent of more sophisticated midget submarines eventually phased out the MSC, the “Sleeping Beauty” laid the groundwork for modern Swimmer Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) used by contemporary special forces like the SBS and US Navy SEALs.
Legacy
Today, only a few original Motorised Submersible Canoes survive, housed in museums such as the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport. The MSC remains a symbol of the “Boffin Warfare” of WWII—a testament to how a simple, elegant design could pose a massive threat to the largest warships of the era.
The Wartime diving gear of the MSC is the Siebe Amphibian set, later the set was replaced by SCBA set. Thanks to Danny McGurk I can show you pictures of both system:
Therebreathersite was founded by Jan Willem Bech in 1999. After a diving career of many years, he decided to start technical diving in 1999. He immediately noticed that at that time there was almost no website that contained the history of closed breathing systems. The start for the website led to a huge collection that offered about 1,300 pages of information until 2019. In 2019, a fresh start was made with the website now freely available online for everyone. Therebreathersite is a source of information for divers, researchers, technicians and students. I hope you enjoy browsing the content!