Description
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The Biber (German for “beaver”) was a German midget submarine of the Second World War. Armed with two externally mounted 53-centimetre (21 in) torpedoes or mines, they were intended to attack coastal shipping. They were the smallest submarines in the Kriegsmarine. The Biber was hastily developed to help meet the threat of an Allied invasion of Europe. This resulted in basic technical flaws that, combined with the inadequate training of their operators, meant they never posed a real threat to Allied shipping, despite 324 submarines being delivered. One of the class’s few successes was the sinking of the cargo ship Alan A. Dale. For the 8 different G7a-models it was used to access the gyroscope chamber, and for the 20 different G7e-models it was used to access the engine-compartment and the battery-chamber (3 hatches). It was also used in the type 1210 exersicehead produced ca 1934-1940. Hatches used on G7e-torpedoes were nickle-plated, while the hatch for G7a-models (and type 1210 head) only was nickel-plated for torpedoes produced before the war (1934-1940).
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