Operation Source
1943 British midget-submarine attack on the battleship Tirpitz
On 22 September 1943 the British X-craft X6 and X7 laid charges beneath the battleship Tirpitz at Kåfjord, keeping her in harbour until April 1944. The raid is the template for carrying small submarines to a distant target aboard a larger vessel.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for Operation Source
China may build a drone-sub mothership
Autonomous Systems: Land & SeaBackground
Operation Source was a British midget-submarine attack on German capital ships in northern Norway in September 1943. On 11 September six Royal Navy submarines left Scotland, each towing an X-craft, to strike Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Lützow. X9 was lost on passage, X8 was scuttled and X10 abandoned its attack.
On 22 September X6, under Lieutenant Donald Cameron, and X7, under Lieutenant Godfrey Place, laid charges beneath Tirpitz at Kåfjord. Repairs kept her in harbour until April 1944. Both commanders were captured and both received the Victoria Cross.
The raid showed how a larger vessel can carry short-range underwater craft most of the way to a distant target, and it remains the reference case for that idea. A hull at Hudong-Zhonghua in Shanghai that Naval News judged in September 2026 to be China's first mothership for extra-large uncrewed submarines follows the same pattern. The X-craft needed crews and long tows; extra-large uncrewed submarines remove the CREW from that risk.