German submarine U-1407

The U-1406, a vessel of the same class as Meteorite/U-1407
History
Nazi Germany
Name:	U-1407
Ordered:	4 January 1943
Builder:	Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Yard number:	257
Laid down:	13 November 1943
Launched:	February 1945
Commissioned:	13 March 1945
Fate:	Scuttled at Cuxhaven, 5 May 1945 Later raised and rebuilt
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Meteorite
Acquired:	1945
Commissioned:	1946
Fate:	Broken up, September 1949
General characteristics
Class and type:	Type XVIIB submarine
Displacement:	312 long tons (317 t) surfaced 337 long tons (342 t) submerged 415 long tons (422 t) total
Length:	41.45 m (136 ft 0 in) o/a 27.30 m (89 ft 7 in) pressure hull
Beam:	4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) o/a 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) pressure hull
Draught:	4.3 m (14 ft 1 in)
Propulsion:	1 × Deutz SAA SM517 supercharged 8-cylinder diesel engine, 210 PS (210 shp; 150 kW) 1 × AEG Maschine AWT98 electric motor, 77 PS (76 shp; 57 kW) 1 × Walter gas turbine, 2,500 PS (2,500 shp; 1,800 kW) 1 shaft
Speed:	8.8 knots (16.3 km/h; 10.1 mph) surfaced 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged (electric drive) 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged (HTP drive)
Range:	3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced 76 nmi (141 km; 87 mi) at 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) submerged (electric drive) 123 nmi (228 km; 142 mi) at 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged (HTP drive)
Complement:	19
Armament:	2 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes (bow) 4 × torpedoes

HMS Meteorite was an experimental U-boat developed in Germany, scuttled at the end of World War II, subsequently raised and commissioned into the Royal Navy. The submarine was originally commissioned into the Kriegsmarine in March 1945 as U-1407. It was built around a Walter engine fuelled by high test peroxide (HTP).

The three completed German Type XVIIB submarines were scuttled by their crews at the end of the Second World War, U-1405 at Flensburg, and U-1406 and U-1407 at Cuxhaven, all in the British Zone of Occupation.U-1406 and U-1407 were scuttled on 7 May 1945 by Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Grumpelt even though a superior officer, Kapitän zur See Kurt Thoma, had prohibited such actions. Grumpelt was subsequently sentenced to seven years' imprisonment by a British military court.

At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945 U-1406 was allocated to the US and U-1407 to Britain and both were soon salvaged.

U-1407 was salvaged in June 1945, and transported to Barrow-in-Furness, where she was refitted by Vickers with a new and complete set of machinery also captured in Germany, under the supervision of Professor Hellmuth Walter. Because she was intended to be used solely for trials and possibly as a high-speed anti-submarine target, her torpedo tubes were removed. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 25 September 1945 and renamed HMS Meteorite.