My father was officer on S 130 from end of 1944 until end of WW II. After the surrender of Germany he handed over the boat to the british marines and afterwards - on behalf of the british marines - was one of the responsibles for the boat until 1946, when he went back home. I did not not know that S-130 still exists and I hope to have the opportunity for a visit.
During the late 1980s, I was on holiday in Ibiza. In the harbour of Ibiza town was an 'island tour' boat, an old 'early version' S-Boot. (As portrayed in the Airfix 1/72nd scale kit). It was exSpanish Navy. Decks stripped of all military fixtures, it was fitted with seats along both sides of the deck behind the wheelhouse. After circling the island of Ibiza, and on an open stretch of water on the approach back to the harbour, the helmsman opened the throttle to 'full speed'. The bow rose up, and the adrenaline rush was exhilarating, as the boat skipped over the water! I couldn't help but think of how the Wartime crews must have felt, when THEY were speeding through the water.
Some ancient astronaut theorists believe the E-boats were actually created to rendezvous with USO's emerging from the English Channel. The "E" actually stood for extra-terrestrial...
Sold! Subscribed on this recommendation. This is the first thing I've seen on the channel and I'm impressed with what Mark's done. Looking forward to seeing more!
There were a number of WW1 era tanks operating in the middle east til quite recently if I'm not mistaken. I think you can still find WW2 era equipment in use with some Latin American militaries as well.
hans wurst Tanks, nuclear weapons, and submarines weren't German inventions. Tanks were invented by the British during World War I. (Germany built tanks during that war, but theirs generally lagged the British.) Nuclear weapons were first created (a *lot* of inventions were required, not just one) by the Americans--much (not all) of the basic science was indeed done by German scientists, but many of those were expatriates working in the U.S. Submarines were another American invention, although the Imperial German Navy was the first to exploit their potential. Missiles, you're arguably right. (*Everybody* wanted the V-2 team after World War II.) Stealth fighters--I have no idea what you're really referring to there. So--one (or two) out of five...
@@hanswurst-ft1ih They were so close to winning the war , lookat the 262 , Tiger tank , Horten flying wing. Bismark , Graf spee , and hundreds of other inventions. Even their uniforms looked great. My grandfather's said our governments would sell us out and wished Germany had won.
There are still two US subs from World War Two in service with the Thai Navy. Many US aircraft from the second world war were in service with various Air Force's well into the 1980's. Not to mention the DC-3's/C-47's from the war, and pre-war years that are still in service.
Peter Goodwin 262 was poorly used, Tiger Tank was poor. Too heavy to deploy quickly and too much effort to build. Horten flying wing was used when? Bismark lacked the radar quality that gave the British the edge. Graff spee was nothing special. Good helmet though. Radar, Huff Duff, The proximity shell, code breaking, asdic. Aircraft carriers etc meant the allies were always ahead in the end.
A fascinating piece. My grandfather was one of the drivers who was woken up early in the morning and forced to collect, and bury, the dead after the catastrophe at Slapton Sands and throughout Exercise Tiger. Sworn to secrecy, he never spoke of the matter until the mid-late 2000s, just before he died. We were ill-able to figure out what he was talking about (this being a decade ago, little was published on Wikipedia on the matter) until I happened along a copy of Richard Bass's "Exercise Tiger" and saw his name in the listed rosters.
I live near Slapton and I remember walking the beach and finding a solitary .30 calibre case , after finding it I walked up to the hull of the Sherman tank and placed it in a poppy wreath I saw on it .Such a tragic loss of life, and god bless your grandfather I can not comprehend what it must have been like
Schnellboote and American PT boats have always held a fascination with me. I'm glad one managed to survive and is being restored. Some of the PTs are being/have been restored here in the States and when I was a boy, there were several PT boats operating as headboats (boats that took groups out to fish) out of New Jersey/Delaware (?) - memory is starting to go. I always thought it was such an indignity for those war veterans but it did keep them on the water and the sound of those engines...beautiful.
Very glad someone had the forethought to save this Snellboat for future generations.Ive read this story years ago but only now learned of a survivor's existence from this raid.Thanks for saving her Kevin!!!
My great uncle was a stoker on HMS Wakeful. Wakeful, with a ships co of over 100 and carrying 640 troops below decks, was sunk by an " E boat" during the Dunkirk evacuation. Only two soldiers and twenty five crew members survived the attack, unfortunately, my uncle wasn't one of them.
The reason why the S-Boote were so fast was mostly the so-called "Lürssen Effekt" (Lürssen was their designer and builder) which was due to a sort of hydrofoil effect produced by the hull thanks to the special design of it.
As a German, it is an honor that relatives of former opponents restore a "Schnellboot" from the "old days". Actually, I can not believe that it should be the last surviving boat. During my service in 1971-73 as a member of the 'Bundesmarine', I saw quite a few of them ( Flottille ) in the Danish military harbor in Copenhagen. They were almost unchanged after my short impression, but deviantly dark olive-colored. (And they looked excellently groomed ......)
BoydCooperLegend I read an article a couple of years ago suggesting that one had been intercepted smuggling drugs in the bay of Biscay - her excellent speed and manoeuvrability making her almost impossible to catch...
@@jaisheelal4002 These were not these boats, they were newer S-boats (after WW 2) of the German Navy (Jaguar class), which were retired in the 1970s or sold to Greece, Turkey and privat. Some of them were later used as drug boats, after they were also retired in Greece and Turkey. They were very similar to the old S-boats. I worked in the town where a shipyard later converted some of these ex-drug boats into yachts. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar-class_fast_attack_craft
@BoydCooperLegend....10 years ago wandering around Peenemunde i spotted a Schütze-Klasse Minesweeper moored up in the smaller harbour for private owned boats. It looked in pretty good shape externally though i never got chance to see the inside. A year later in 2009 i was back in Germany and made another trip to Peenemunde to see if the old Minesweeper was still around.....only to find it had gone! I eventually discovered it had made it as far as Stralsund where it moored and later partially sank. Very sad as it seemed there was some sort of dispute involving the owner so not sure how it all ended.
Denmark recieved 18 S-boots after WWII. They were in service until the late 1960’s as the Glenten-class. It was probably the remainents of these, that you saw in Copenhagen. You can see an overview of them at navalhistory.dk/English/TheShips/Classes/Glenten_Class(1947).htm
Actually it wasn't a mix up in communications, it was a total failure of the Americans to inform the Royal Navy they were even having this exercise , because they thought they didn't have to, and didn't need the help. This fact is further recognised that after the war the American authorities recognised the fact British people were forced from their homes near Slapton Sands to create this training area, and built them a monument to thank them, but refused to honour their own dead. A monument was eventually erected, the recovered Sherman Tank, by a British effort in later years.
An uncle of mine served on one of this boats. They got the order to attack the invasion fleet on D-day. When the crew spotted the massive fleet at the horizon they turned the boat immediately back to their base.
Sorry but it’s not the last E-Boat and not even the last one in the UK. There is an E-boat in a small marina in Castleford near Leeds, which the owner has been restoring for years
Fascinating! With so many people raving on and on about Tirpitz, Bismarck, Graf Spee and the U-boats of course; smaller vessels that could still tip the scales are often forgotten. Thank you for the upload!
Another fascinating insight. Just goes to show how needed metals were after the war that so few original boats survived due to being scrapped for other needs.
My late uncle was on one of the LST's that were torpedoed in Operation Tiger. Though he was in the cold water for hours, he did survive until he was in his 90's. He was unable to talk about what happened until the story was made public in the 1980's. The story he was able to tell on 60 Minutes and other shows was very tragic. I had heard that it was E-Boats that torpedoed the LST's but did not fully understand what they were. This video helps to understand them better.
One of my old customers Ron Hedgecocks was a captain of a MGB in WW2...he used to tell me stories of his and crews escapades with the e boats they used to chase them about around the dutch french coasts and then run as fast as they could back home .He was on patrol at the front of the action during the d day business and in charge of a few eboats and crew that were held up on the east coast at the end of hostilities, some were glad it was all over others wanted to have a go right away at the Russkies! ...When he took charge of the Motor Gun Boat ( US made) he was looking over the boat and he noticed a circular object... thinking it was some sort of..maybe a radar component the yank replied " Gee buddy that's the ice cream making machine" He seemed to have a good type of life on the MGB plenty of official Whiskey and the like and he knew about the D day landings about two weeks before not the actual day but the timing..Happy days!
Not only do people not want to preserve history they want to deny it. The WW2 generation has all but passed from this world and so have the witnesses to history. History cannot be trusted to historians with an axe to grind and an agenda to promote. History like the truth is often inconvenient but history is history and truth is truth.
Well it's usually more like "There are lots of people who want to, but cant because they are broke. And the people that do have the money either dont know/ dont care/ or simply just dont want too.
Nice post thanks! I met one of the guys who moved S-130 from Germany to the UK after BP Co bought her. I think a vid is somewhere on YT. One of her props was freewheeling the whole way and making a lot of noise! After she come to the UK she managed to almost sink! The Wheatcroft Collection did have a nice website covering the restoration but its not up anymore. They purchased a slightly newer German patrol boat to use her engines and systems. There was a slight controversy (only because of erroneous info that the boats were war graves) over some recovery work on some S boats sunk in the channel, the parts were needed to allow new ones to be fabricated. Not much more info from them for a few years now. There was one more survivor, S-97 (from memory) it had lain out of the way in a small river on the South Coast, she was in a bit of a mess, she was recovered then promptly scrapped!!! More info is on the BMPT website Forum.
You never hear much about Britain's battle against the E-boats in the North Sea and English Channel. It's a shame as it is a really interesting story. Luckily there are plenty of books on the subject for anyone who is interested. E-boats were a constant menace for much of the war and we never really got to grips with them. They were fast and very seaworthy and better than anything we had.
Wow. Only found you recently. Dunno where you came from. Grew up in the vestiges of ww1 and 2 as child,and am so happy to see more of this era that awed me as a child. I thought it was all gone but you keep finding stuff. Thanks
There is an E-boat near Sandwich in Kent, it lays in deep mud on the river Stour, alongside a small wharf that lies on the North side of the cut which itself lays between Sandwich and the river mouth, it was cut through to the same river but two miles were saved by avoiding a big loop in the river. Any how it’s totally buried now but I’m sure the local’s know about it.
Surprising...though I've followed for decades all naval encounters during WW2, I had never heard of this E-Boat victory prior to D-Day ! Seems the cover-up was so keenly performed that it lasts to the present day (with your exception, of course !). Thanks for leaking out the secret !
I heard about this boat, it turns out some of the restoration was done in a small village called Millbrook 7 miles away from my home town, which was really cool!
I want to congratulate you on your careful and clear pronunciation of German. Not many English speakers [myself included] can enunciate the language so well. There's a lot of subtlety to German that is overlooked by most of us, even by historians who ought to know better.
Absolutely fabulous. I hope all this film is safely stored for future generations. Our debt to you Mark Felton, is immeasurable. I was not part of all this but my father was, (the war as a whole), Let's not lose it to bureaucratic incompetence. My father was part of a team held back after graduation in Chemistry/ physics at Imperial College developing munitions eyc for the resistance in France/Belgium. One of his team killed himself with an explosive they were developing and dad was then re=trained as a spy to be dropped behind German lines. He tells me that part of that training was to practice parachuting at night from a basket under a balloon to simulate a night drop. He was terrified. Anyway enough said about that. He could not and did not speak of any of this even to my mother until 30 years, (official secrets act), after the war.
I think this boat was moored, used as a houseboat, on the Thames by Cheyne Walk down towards the Lot's Road end. I was staying aboard a converted Thames sailing barge in the late Sixties and there was a larger craft about seven or eight berths up from us. I always thought it had the look of an E-boat about it.
Wow I had no idea that Germany had torpedo boats pretty amazing thank you for posting this video as someone else stated we learn something new every day again thank you
OMG that's outstanding information about cover ups. I don't know where you got your Intel but that is absolutely bloody marvelous information. I definitely saved that one and shared it with multiple people I've watched it over and over very very good!!! I wonder if there's any blueprints for that boat it would be a marvelous scale model to make.
mate the coverup is an extremely well known bit of late war history. I did it at school back in the 70s and both films and documentary's have been made about it. as for blueprints they have be publicly available for over half a century from the german government. lastly, airfix make a model of the E boat at 1/72 and I think one of the japanese model making companies have one to at about 1/48
William findspennies - I have seen a larger scale balsa wood model, maybe 1/32 scale or lager, that held one engine, do not remember the size. Have not been to a hobby shop in some time so I not sure if it is still available.
Just a clarification, it wasn't Omaha beach Exercise Tiger was the rehearsal for, it was the Utah beach landings. The ironic thing is, 196 men were killed landing on Utah beach itself, while at least 749 died during Exercise Tiger.
The definition according to the Encyclopedia Brittanica: "Irony, language device, either in spoken or written form in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the literal meanings of the words (verbal irony) or in a situation in which there is an incongruity between what is expected and what occurs." Ergo, the irony is that the excercise predicted that the landing would be far more costly than it turned out to be, at least on Utah beach.
Although securing the beach took minimal losses "Around 700 men were lost in engineering units, 70th Tank Battalion, and seaborne vessels sunk by the enemy." Still, the losses from Tiger are significant and not ones I was aware of. I wonder if the beach has a memorial.
sudaev : It's ironic that nearly four times the number of soldiers were killed on friendly shores during a non-lethal exercise,than the actual assault they were practicing for.
I found a schnellboot converted to touristic ship in 1986 in Yugoslavia. Italy around 1930 sold to Yugoslavia four schnellboote. In Italy I found in 1995 an Italian preserved Schnellboote, and during a job in a boatyard in 2002 I discovered in a grass an abandoned Schnellboote used as a house! Probably one of the first serie radiated and sold to privat owner around the end of 1930.
Enjoyable and informative, thanks. The British turned the boat over to the West German navy. There was also the GDR's Volksmarine which was founded in 1956.
We, the USA, grounded most of our PT boats on beaches in the Philippines and burned them. Only a few of them survive and they have been so butchered by private owners as to be virtually unrecognizable. Higgins and Elco made the PTs.
very interesting I had heard of the schnell boat but did not know the history of them. very cool to hear S130 was used to drop MI6 agents into the Baltic states during the early days of the cold war
I have been to the memorial at Torcross by Slapton sands many times...my parents lived there. A local man and historian salvaged that tank from the bay and turned it into a memorial to the men who died. What a disaster but those E boats were amazing amd deadly for the era.
S130 Is still in South Down Cornwall in the purpose build shed , I worked as the restoration photographer for a couple years , its sad that she has had no work done to mt knowledge nothing has been done to her in the last 5 years, Keven is a collector and that's where his interest is
Really quite fascinating! So many people of that time are no longer with us! We need to learn from them all that we can! They are a direct link to history, our best chance to get it right!
In a ship construction course, the last versions of the Eboats where said to be of plastic composite construction, similar to modern PVC, that made them lighter than water, so even shot full of holes, they would not sink. This construction accidentally radar absorbent (discovered by the British after the war), so after replacing the Maybach by Napier Deltics, they were used in the Baltic to drop agents and other secret squirrel deeds. (This is from memory, might be wrong)
Good video Mark, have you considered making a video about the German "Wunderwaffe", specifically their efforts to achieve Nuclear capability and even Anti Gravity propulsion ? Thanks
The anti gravity devices seemingly developed by the germans are just myths. The nuclear weapons development of the germans never got over the stage of a dirty bomb since nuclear power was described as jewish sience and therefor not acceptable for nazi cultur.
@@mandernachluca3774 Not true. The Germans were ahead in nuclear technology until their one source of deutronium (heavy water) was destroyed, in Norway by badass Norwegian winter commandos sent by Winston Churchill (facts, look it up.) That is what derailed their nuclear ambition. The Germans had the necessary theory in hand and the materials to do it, until that point. They were in the process of purifying enough heavy water to build their first bombs. As for the antigravity, lets just say both sides investigated a few far fetched ideas.
Hendrik van Leeuwen no they were not even close and the destruction of the heavy water did not matter in the end. Think of the scale of the manhatten project, now look up the scale of the german program.
@@hendrikvanleeuwen9110 Later on it was discovered that the Germans were on the wrong track in the development of a nucleair bomb: they were on a dead end without knowing it!
Some years ago I saw one of these or a close relative of it docked in Ramsgate harbour Kent UK. For some reason it was then moved a couple of miles to a small inlet on the coast at Richborough where it was allowed to sink and there it lies to this day with it's funnel standing out from the water.
Fascinating tale. Always admired the Schnellboot, for the use of less flammable, and better powered diesel engines. Something the Allies didn't adopt until well after the war, in the MPBs.
As much as I love WWII history I wasn't overly familiar w/German E-boats although they remind me of US WWII PT-boats. Excellent video & another awesome Mark Felton Production!
Mark, There was a converted yacht named "Emma" that was built an S-Boat Hull in Florida in the late '80s, classed Lloyds. This was in the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. I drydocked her twice once in each place
Timothy O'Neill Might have been an American PT boat,I don’t believe any of the S Boats made it to the US after the war. The S Boats were 100 feet long,The PT’s were about 80,some 77. The D Day museum in New Orleans has restored a Higgins PT Boat to like new running condition. Beautiful restoration!
If I heard correctly for over 10 years it was a (private) houseboat? With torpedo launch tubes. Should have pulled into a swanky marina with a set of "sunk yacht" tally symbols in plain view.
Kajani Yeah love the way you think! Thirty plus knots and a tight curve in the no-wake zone! That would give all the interfering old bitches that infest marinas something real to complain about...
2:46 That is it right there! It is not just the engineering involved, it was the brave sharp German crews that made these little boats, the weapons that the Allied Naval Forces feared most - - - - - next to the U-Boat
it is not the last e-boat ,there is a rebuild one in denmark they did remove the torpedotubes and rebuild the hull to get more space ,it now a diving boat
There is a book by Peter Scott the wildlife artist, who was a Britsh SGB commander, called The Battle of the Narrow Seas, great history and breathtaking illustrations by the Authur.
Faster and more reliable with diesel power than our gasoline powered PT boats. PT boat engines were clapped out at 1000 hours or so. A heavy-built diesel is just getting broken it.
Further to your comment about S-130 being the last one, there used to be Two (2) MTB's (which maybe British OR German) moored in the Lobroekdok in Antwerpen Belgium, adjacent to the Sportpaleis Arena. They were derelict, but i understand they are still there.
My father was officer on S 130 from end of 1944 until end of WW II. After the surrender of Germany he handed over the boat to the british marines and afterwards - on behalf of the british marines - was one of the responsibles for the boat until 1946, when he went back home. I did not not know that S-130 still exists and I hope to have the opportunity for a visit.
During the late 1980s, I was on holiday in Ibiza. In the harbour of Ibiza town was an 'island tour' boat, an old 'early version' S-Boot. (As portrayed in the Airfix 1/72nd scale kit). It was exSpanish Navy. Decks stripped of all military fixtures, it was fitted with seats along both sides of the deck behind the wheelhouse.
After circling the island of Ibiza, and on an open stretch of water on the approach back to the harbour, the helmsman opened the throttle to 'full speed'. The bow rose up, and the adrenaline rush was exhilarating, as the boat skipped over the water!
I couldn't help but think of how the Wartime crews must have felt, when THEY were speeding through the water.
My compliments to Mark Felton for producing historical documentaries that are factual and entertaining.
This channel is like the History Channel used to be before all the Ancient Aliens crap. Great job.
Some ancient astronaut theorists believe the E-boats were actually created to rendezvous with USO's emerging from the English Channel. The "E" actually stood for extra-terrestrial...
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes
Sold! Subscribed on this recommendation. This is the first thing I've seen on the channel and I'm impressed with what Mark's done. Looking forward to seeing more!
Amazing to think that early 1940's German tech was in service all the way into the 1990's. Simply incredible.
There were a number of WW1 era tanks operating in the middle east til quite recently if I'm not mistaken.
I think you can still find WW2 era equipment in use with some Latin American militaries as well.
hans wurst Tanks, nuclear weapons, and submarines weren't German inventions. Tanks were invented by the British during World War I. (Germany built tanks during that war, but theirs generally lagged the British.) Nuclear weapons were first created (a *lot* of inventions were required, not just one) by the Americans--much (not all) of the basic science was indeed done by German scientists, but many of those were expatriates working in the U.S. Submarines were another American invention, although the Imperial German Navy was the first to exploit their potential.
Missiles, you're arguably right. (*Everybody* wanted the V-2 team after World War II.) Stealth fighters--I have no idea what you're really referring to there.
So--one (or two) out of five...
@@hanswurst-ft1ih They were so close to winning the war , lookat the 262 , Tiger tank , Horten flying wing. Bismark , Graf spee , and hundreds of other inventions. Even their uniforms looked great. My grandfather's said our governments would sell us out and wished Germany had won.
There are still two US subs from World War Two in service with the Thai Navy. Many US aircraft from the second world war were in service with various Air Force's well into the 1980's. Not to mention the DC-3's/C-47's from the war, and pre-war years that are still in service.
Peter Goodwin 262 was poorly used, Tiger Tank was poor. Too heavy to deploy quickly and too much effort to build. Horten flying wing was used when? Bismark lacked the radar quality that gave the British the edge. Graff spee was nothing special. Good helmet though. Radar, Huff Duff, The proximity shell, code breaking, asdic. Aircraft carriers etc meant the allies were always ahead in the end.
A fascinating piece. My grandfather was one of the drivers who was woken up early in the morning and forced to collect, and bury, the dead after the catastrophe at Slapton Sands and throughout Exercise Tiger. Sworn to secrecy, he never spoke of the matter until the mid-late 2000s, just before he died. We were ill-able to figure out what he was talking about (this being a decade ago, little was published on Wikipedia on the matter) until I happened along a copy of Richard Bass's "Exercise Tiger" and saw his name in the listed rosters.
God bless your grandfather and all the others who gave for such little
I live near Slapton and I remember walking the beach and finding a solitary .30 calibre case , after finding it I walked up to the hull of the Sherman tank and placed it in a poppy wreath I saw on it .Such a tragic loss of life, and god bless your grandfather I can not comprehend what it must have been like
*e v e r y m a n a k i n g*
Schnellboote and American PT boats have always held a fascination with me. I'm glad one managed to survive and is being restored. Some of the PTs are being/have been restored here in the States and when I was a boy, there were several PT boats operating as headboats (boats that took groups out to fish) out of New Jersey/Delaware (?) - memory is starting to go. I always thought it was such an indignity for those war veterans but it did keep them on the water and the sound of those engines...beautiful.
Very glad someone had the forethought to save this Snellboat for future generations.Ive read this story years ago but only now learned of a survivor's existence from this raid.Thanks for saving her Kevin!!!
My great uncle was a stoker on HMS Wakeful. Wakeful, with a ships co of over 100 and carrying 640 troops below decks, was sunk by an " E boat" during the Dunkirk evacuation. Only two soldiers and twenty five crew members survived the attack, unfortunately, my uncle wasn't one of them.
The reason why the S-Boote were so fast was mostly the so-called "Lürssen Effekt" (Lürssen was their designer and builder) which was due to a sort of hydrofoil effect produced by the hull thanks to the special design of it.
As a German, it is an honor that relatives of former opponents restore a "Schnellboot" from the "old days". Actually, I can not believe that it should be the last surviving boat.
During my service in 1971-73 as a member of the 'Bundesmarine', I saw quite a few of them ( Flottille ) in the Danish military harbor in Copenhagen. They were almost unchanged after my short impression, but deviantly dark olive-colored. (And they looked excellently groomed ......)
BoydCooperLege
BoydCooperLegend
I read an article a couple of years ago suggesting that one had been intercepted smuggling drugs in the bay of Biscay - her excellent speed and manoeuvrability making her almost impossible to catch...
@@jaisheelal4002 These were not these boats, they were newer S-boats (after WW 2) of the German Navy (Jaguar class), which were retired in the 1970s or sold to Greece, Turkey and privat. Some of them were later used as drug boats, after they were also retired in Greece and Turkey. They were very similar to the old S-boats. I worked in the town where a shipyard later converted some of these ex-drug boats into yachts.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar-class_fast_attack_craft
@BoydCooperLegend....10 years ago wandering around Peenemunde i spotted a Schütze-Klasse Minesweeper moored up in the smaller harbour for private owned boats. It looked in pretty good shape externally though i never got chance to see the inside. A year later in 2009 i was back in Germany and made another trip to Peenemunde to see if the old Minesweeper was still around.....only to find it had gone! I eventually discovered it had made it as far as Stralsund where it moored and later partially sank. Very sad as it seemed there was some sort of dispute involving the owner so not sure how it all ended.
Denmark recieved 18 S-boots after WWII. They were in service until the late 1960’s as the Glenten-class. It was probably the remainents of these, that you saw in Copenhagen. You can see an overview of them at navalhistory.dk/English/TheShips/Classes/Glenten_Class(1947).htm
Actually it wasn't a mix up in communications, it was a total failure of the Americans to inform the Royal Navy they were even having this exercise , because they thought they didn't have to, and didn't need the help. This fact is further recognised that after the war the American authorities recognised the fact British people were forced from their homes near Slapton Sands to create this training area, and built them a monument to thank them, but refused to honour their own dead. A monument was eventually erected, the recovered Sherman Tank, by a British effort in later years.
In service from WW2 until 1991, that is impressive.
I have been aboard this particular Eboat ..She is currently being restored in Mashfords Boat Yard at Cremyll in S/E Cornwall
An uncle of mine served on one of this boats. They got the order to attack the invasion fleet on D-day. When the crew spotted the massive fleet at the horizon they turned the boat immediately back to their base.
History is SO IMPORTANT! Thanks to those who help keep this excellent piece of living history in great shape! Thank you!
Sorry but it’s not the last E-Boat and not even the last one in the UK. There is an E-boat in a small marina in Castleford near Leeds, which the owner has been restoring for years
What an amazing history for this craft.
And the engineering must of been top-notch for it to prove so useful for major powers for so long.
German Engineering, top notch !
Fascinating! With so many people raving on and on about Tirpitz, Bismarck, Graf Spee and the U-boats of course; smaller vessels that could still tip the scales are often forgotten.
Thank you for the upload!
Incredible unique history of a boat that I hope will be preserved as a memorial.
Another fascinating insight. Just goes to show how needed metals were after the war that so few original boats survived due to being scrapped for other needs.
Matt Perrin if you whant to se more similar boats search for motortorpedbåt ;)
Bnht
My late uncle was on one of the LST's that were torpedoed in Operation Tiger. Though he was in the cold water for hours, he did survive until he was in his 90's. He was unable to talk about what happened until the story was made public in the 1980's. The story he was able to tell on 60 Minutes and other shows was very tragic. I had heard that it was E-Boats that torpedoed the LST's but did not fully understand what they were. This video helps to understand them better.
One of my old customers Ron Hedgecocks was a captain of a MGB in WW2...he used to tell me stories of his and crews escapades with the e boats they used to chase them about around the dutch french coasts and then run as fast as they could back home .He was on patrol at the front of the action during the d day business and in charge of a few eboats and crew that were held up on the east coast at the end of hostilities, some were glad it was all over others wanted to have a go right away at the Russkies! ...When he took charge of the Motor Gun Boat ( US made) he was looking over the boat and he noticed a circular object... thinking it was some sort of..maybe a radar component the yank replied " Gee buddy that's the ice cream making machine" He seemed to have a good type of life on the MGB plenty of official Whiskey and the like and he knew about the D day landings about two weeks before not the actual day but the timing..Happy days!
Hope she's restored to her full glory.... too much history goes down the drain because no one wants to preserve it..
Not only do people not want to preserve history they want to deny it. The WW2 generation has all but passed from this world and so have the witnesses to history. History cannot be trusted to historians with an axe to grind and an agenda to promote. History like the truth is often inconvenient but history is history and truth is truth.
Well it's usually more like "There are lots of people who want to, but cant because they are broke.
And the people that do have the money either dont know/ dont care/ or simply just dont want too.
Agreed . I wonder how long before Dachau and other such establishments disappear under a new Supermarket of shopping Mall
Nice post thanks! I met one of the guys who moved S-130 from Germany to the UK after BP Co bought her. I think a vid is somewhere on YT. One of her props was freewheeling the whole way and making a lot of noise!
After she come to the UK she managed to almost sink! The Wheatcroft Collection did have a nice website covering the restoration but its not up anymore. They purchased a slightly newer German patrol boat to use her engines and systems.
There was a slight controversy (only because of erroneous info that the boats were war graves) over some recovery work on some S boats sunk in the channel, the parts were needed to allow new ones to be fabricated.
Not much more info from them for a few years now.
There was one more survivor, S-97 (from memory) it had lain out of the way in a small river on the South Coast, she was in a bit of a mess, she was recovered then promptly scrapped!!!
More info is on the BMPT website Forum.
Thanks for the additional information - fascinating stuff!
What a great short film! Really enjoyed it. Glad the s-boat was saved.
You never hear much about Britain's battle against the E-boats in the North Sea and English Channel. It's a shame as it is a really interesting story. Luckily there are plenty of books on the subject for anyone who is interested. E-boats were a constant menace for much of the war and we never really got to grips with them. They were fast and very seaworthy and better than anything we had.
Charles Dickens great grandson commanded a squadron of MTB during the war.
Wow. Only found you recently. Dunno where you came from. Grew up in the vestiges of
ww1 and 2 as child,and am so happy to see more of this era that awed me as a child. I thought it was all gone but you keep finding stuff. Thanks
Every day I learn something new :D
Another great video. Thank you Mark. I had no clue about E boats before this video. Amazing
Many thanks
being the last of its kind and such a notable object in history this little boat is almost priceless
There is an E-boat near Sandwich in Kent, it lays in deep mud on the river Stour, alongside a small wharf that lies on the North side of the cut which itself lays between Sandwich and the river mouth, it was cut through to the same river but two miles were saved by avoiding a big loop in the river. Any how it’s totally buried now but I’m sure the local’s know about it.
Surprising...though I've followed for decades all naval encounters during WW2, I had never heard of this E-Boat victory prior to D-Day ! Seems the cover-up was so keenly performed that it lasts to the present day (with your exception, of course !). Thanks for leaking out the secret !
I heard about this boat, it turns out some of the restoration was done in a small village called Millbrook 7 miles away from my home town, which was really cool!
To have this historically awesome boat restored and saved is worth all monies & effort to do so! Bravo!
incredible story, still it's amazing one of those S-boats survived all these years under different flags and owners!
I want to congratulate you on your careful and clear pronunciation of German. Not many English speakers [myself included] can enunciate the language so well. There's a lot of subtlety to German that is overlooked by most of us, even by historians who ought to know better.
Vee vill ask ze questions!
Absolutely fabulous. I hope all this film is safely stored for future generations. Our debt to you Mark Felton, is immeasurable. I was not part of all this but my father was, (the war as a whole), Let's not lose it to bureaucratic incompetence. My father was part of a team held back after graduation in Chemistry/ physics at Imperial College developing munitions eyc for the resistance in France/Belgium. One of his team killed himself with an explosive they were developing and dad was then re=trained as a spy to be dropped behind German lines. He tells me that part of that training was to practice parachuting at night from a basket under a balloon to simulate a night drop. He was terrified. Anyway enough said about that. He could not and did not speak of any of this even to my mother until 30 years, (official secrets act), after the war.
I think this boat was moored, used as a houseboat, on the Thames by Cheyne Walk down towards the Lot's Road end. I was staying aboard a converted Thames sailing barge in the late Sixties and there was a larger craft about seven or eight berths up from us. I always thought it had the look of an E-boat about it.
Wow I had no idea that Germany had torpedo boats pretty amazing thank you for posting this video as someone else stated we learn something new every day again thank you
OMG that's outstanding information about cover ups. I don't know where you got your Intel but that is absolutely bloody marvelous information.
I definitely saved that one and shared it with multiple people I've watched it over and over very very good!!! I wonder if there's any blueprints for that boat it would be a marvelous scale model to make.
mate the coverup is an extremely well known bit of late war history. I did it at school back in the 70s and both films and documentary's have been made about it. as for blueprints they have be publicly available for over half a century from the german government. lastly, airfix make a model of the E boat at 1/72 and I think one of the japanese model making companies have one to at about 1/48
William findspennies - I have seen a larger scale balsa wood model, maybe 1/32 scale or lager, that held one engine, do not remember the size. Have not been to a hobby shop in some time so I not sure if it is still available.
Isn't schnell boats mean quick boats??
Fast Boats,yes.
In reference to their role as quick, light, run-and-gun boats.
Exact.
It is mean fast boat.
How fast were the american PT boats?
according to wikipedia about 41 knots.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Torpedo_Boat_PT-109
About 45 kts. Around 50 MPH. Not bad at all for an 80' boat.
Just a clarification, it wasn't Omaha beach Exercise Tiger was the rehearsal for, it was the Utah beach landings. The ironic thing is, 196 men were killed landing on Utah beach itself, while at least 749 died during Exercise Tiger.
How is that ironic?
The definition according to the Encyclopedia Brittanica: "Irony, language device, either in spoken or written form in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the literal meanings of the words (verbal irony) or in a situation in which there is an incongruity between what is expected and what occurs." Ergo, the irony is that the excercise predicted that the landing would be far more costly than it turned out to be, at least on Utah beach.
Nothing is really ever ironic, the word is fine here. Don't worry about it, it doesn't really matter.
Although securing the beach took minimal losses "Around 700 men were lost in engineering units, 70th Tank Battalion, and seaborne vessels sunk by the enemy." Still, the losses from Tiger are significant and not ones I was aware of. I wonder if the beach has a memorial.
sudaev : It's ironic that nearly four times the number of soldiers were killed on friendly shores during a non-lethal exercise,than the actual assault they were practicing for.
I found a schnellboot converted to touristic ship in 1986 in Yugoslavia. Italy around 1930 sold to Yugoslavia four schnellboote. In Italy I found in 1995 an Italian preserved Schnellboote, and during a job in a boatyard in 2002 I discovered in a grass an abandoned Schnellboote used as a house! Probably one of the first serie radiated and sold to privat owner around the end of 1930.
Thanks Mark! 45 knotts!? Even prior to the speed mod they were fast.
Enjoyable and informative, thanks.
The British turned the boat over to the West German navy. There was also the GDR's Volksmarine which was founded in 1956.
@juniatapark: Right, but only for 40 years ... ;-)
We, the USA, grounded most of our PT boats on beaches in the Philippines and burned them. Only a few of them survive and they have been so butchered by private owners as to be virtually unrecognizable. Higgins and Elco made the PTs.
Also my Dad was on Pt-Boats in ww2 and to look at this boat made out of wood its Amazing to have lasted so long in action.!?.
very interesting I had heard of the schnell boat but did not know the history of them. very cool to hear S130 was used to drop MI6 agents into the Baltic states during the early days of the cold war
I have been to the memorial at Torcross by Slapton sands many times...my parents lived there. A local man and historian salvaged that tank from the bay and turned it into a memorial to the men who died. What a disaster but those E boats were amazing amd deadly for the era.
Nice Video.
Greetings from Germany 😉
Thanks to the Britains, that have to save our history...
Your Welcome
Just as long as someone keeps it alive..... but still Germany has many fantastic museums with great artefacts in them like the panzer museum
1943-1991. That's a very long service life!
One of the episodes of Foyles War was based around the event.
S130 Is still in South Down Cornwall in the purpose build shed , I worked as the restoration photographer for a couple years , its sad that she has had no work done to mt knowledge nothing has been done to her in the last 5 years, Keven is a collector and that's where his interest is
Really quite fascinating! So many people of that time are no longer with us! We need to learn from them all that we can! They are a direct link to history, our best chance to get it right!
In a ship construction course, the last versions of the Eboats where said to be of plastic composite construction, similar to modern PVC, that made them lighter than water, so even shot full of holes, they would not sink.
This construction accidentally radar absorbent (discovered by the British after the war), so after replacing the Maybach by Napier Deltics, they were used in the Baltic to drop agents and other secret squirrel deeds.
(This is from memory, might be wrong)
Good Job mark.greetings from Germany
I’ve been to that Sherman memorial, as I live in Devon.
1991? That's a bloody good innings.
glad to see it being restored
Really enjoyed this. Wow served until 1991 that is quite a tour of of duty.
Good video Mark, have you considered making a video about the German "Wunderwaffe", specifically their efforts to achieve Nuclear capability and even Anti Gravity propulsion ?
Thanks
The anti gravity devices seemingly developed by the germans are just myths. The nuclear weapons development of the germans never got over the stage of a dirty bomb since nuclear power was described as jewish sience and therefor not acceptable for nazi cultur.
sivedan
That would be great!
And, also, maybe a video called "The Uniforms of Hans Kammler"....
@@mandernachluca3774 Not true. The Germans were ahead in nuclear technology until their one source of deutronium (heavy water) was destroyed, in Norway by badass Norwegian winter commandos sent by Winston Churchill (facts, look it up.) That is what derailed their nuclear ambition. The Germans had the necessary theory in hand and the materials to do it, until that point. They were in the process of purifying enough heavy water to build their first bombs.
As for the antigravity, lets just say both sides investigated a few far fetched ideas.
Hendrik van Leeuwen no they were not even close and the destruction of the heavy water did not matter in the end. Think of the scale of the manhatten project, now look up the scale of the german program.
@@hendrikvanleeuwen9110 Later on it was discovered that the Germans were on the wrong track in the development of a nucleair bomb: they were on a dead end without knowing it!
I more then liked this short film..i LOVED IT....thank you kind sir..
Outstanding video, as all of the Mark Felton videos are. They never fail to delight.
Many thanks - it would be great if you would consider supporting me on Patreon for only $1 a month: www.patreon.com/markfeltonproductions
Tremendously important relic! Thanks for the detailed history and great photos!
I am amazed at the length of this ship!!!! Wow! Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!!
Glad somebody decided to keep and restore this piece of WW2 history.
Excellent piece of historical research.
Many thanks
Amazing, effective boats. Brutal in action.
What a story, also excellently told.
Some years ago I saw one of these or a close relative of it docked in Ramsgate harbour Kent UK. For some reason it was then moved a couple of miles to a small inlet on the coast at Richborough where it was allowed to sink and there it lies to this day with it's funnel standing out from the water.
I learn so much in these concise and very informative videos. Keep them coming!
And not forgetting that other wartime Survivor MTB 102 :)
Well done buddy. your content is great, keep up the good/hard work
Very cool history lesson. Thanks
Fascinating tale. Always admired the Schnellboot, for the use of less flammable, and better powered diesel engines. Something the Allies didn't adopt until well after the war, in the MPBs.
PT boats used 12V-71 Detroit Diesel power plants, so far as I know.
As much as I love WWII history I wasn't overly familiar w/German E-boats although they remind me of US WWII PT-boats. Excellent video & another awesome Mark Felton Production!
I have read about e-boats but never seen what they look like! Thanks for an awesome video.
Mark, There was a converted yacht named "Emma" that was built an S-Boat Hull in Florida in the late '80s, classed Lloyds. This was in the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. I drydocked her twice once in each place
Timothy O'Neill Might have been an American PT boat,I don’t believe any of the S Boats made it to the US after the war. The S Boats were 100 feet long,The PT’s were about 80,some 77. The D Day museum in New Orleans has restored a Higgins PT Boat to like new running condition. Beautiful restoration!
If I heard correctly for over 10 years it was a (private) houseboat? With torpedo launch tubes. Should have pulled into a swanky marina with a set of "sunk yacht" tally symbols in plain view.
Kajani Yeah love the way you think! Thirty plus knots and a tight curve in the no-wake zone! That would give all the interfering old bitches that infest marinas something real to complain about...
Nice piece of history. Great video!
Wonderful video, thanks for sharing it. Preservation of equipment from past wars is important to make it real for people today.
Thanks!
You should do a video about the Tirpitz and what happened after the war. Parts of the hull can be seen in museums...
Another great video and learning lesson.
Dr. Felton, thank you for doing such a great job of sharing very interesting facts about WW2.
The single biggest event in world history.
My pleasure
Really excellent presentation, Mark. Very finely documented and narrated.
Thank you!
2:46 That is it right there! It is not just the engineering involved, it was the brave sharp German crews that made these little boats, the weapons that the Allied Naval Forces feared most - - - - - next to the U-Boat
These were some great, cost effective war machines, the best of there kind!
German unrivalled master tech always past and present.
it is not the last e-boat ,there is a rebuild one in denmark they did remove the torpedotubes and rebuild the hull to get more space ,it now a diving boat
Even more than that quite a few right around Europe were turn in to house boats.
Excellent video she was in service a long time
There is a book by Peter Scott the wildlife artist, who was a Britsh SGB commander, called The Battle of the Narrow Seas, great history and breathtaking illustrations by the Authur.
Back in 1953 there was an "E" boat in the Miami river in down town Miami FL. Google maps show no trace of it now...
Wonderful fill. Would have like to have seen more of the ships insides! I'm happy one of amazing ships survived and in service for so long!
Faster and more reliable with diesel power than our gasoline powered PT boats. PT boat engines were clapped out at 1000 hours or so. A heavy-built diesel is just getting broken it.
Further to your comment about S-130 being the last one, there used to be Two (2) MTB's (which maybe British OR German) moored in the Lobroekdok in Antwerpen Belgium, adjacent to the Sportpaleis Arena. They were derelict, but i understand they are still there.
Such a great channel. Thank you.
You can find the story of schnellboote action in slapton sand in national geographic magazine, june 2002 edition.
Great video
Thank you
A crew of 35 in a tiny space like that?!