The real X-Men

16.00

The thrilling and true story of the development and operational deployment of human torpedoes – ‘Chariots’ – and ‘X-craft’ midget submarines in British naval service during WWII, and of the extraordinary men who crewed these dangerous vessels. The commando frogmen who rode the Chariots and operated as divers from the X-craft were the forerunners of today’s Special Boat Service, the SBS. Their aim was to attach an explosive charge underneath an enemy ship to destroy the vessel. Their hope was to return to their submarine unscathed. This volume tells the story of the sacrifice and heroism of the individual men, many of them little more than teenagers, who volunteered for this dangerous duty and who crewed both the Chariots and the X-craft without knowing the full extent of the risks entailed, or indeed the very small chance they had of coming back alive.

Quantity

Description

The thrilling and true story of the development and operational deployment of human torpedoes – ‘Chariots’ – and ‘X-craft’ midget submarines in British naval service during WWII, and of the extraordinary men who crewed these dangerous vessels. The commando frogmen who rode the Chariots and operated as divers from the X-craft were the forerunners of today’s Special Boat Service, the SBS.

Their aim was to attach an explosive charge underneath an enemy ship to destroy the vessel. Their hope was to return to their submarine unscathed. The Real X-Men tells the story of the sacrifice and heroism of the individual men, many of them little more than teenagers, who volunteered for this dangerous duty and who crewed both the Chariots and the X-craft without knowing the full extent of the risks entailed, nor indeed the very small chances they had of coming back alive.

Additional information

Weight 0.28 kg
Dimensions 19.6 × 12.8 × 2.4 cm
Book_author

Lyman, Robert

Publisher

Quercus

Imprint

Quercus

Cover

Paperback

Pages

xv, 314 , 8 unnumbered of plates

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

940.5451 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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