Remote control boat
 Simplified page representation of the FL
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The remote control boat , or FL for short , was the first developed explosive device of the German Imperial Navy . It was conceived during the First World War in November 1915.
Development history
Immediately after the outbreak of the First World War, u. a. the company Siemens , With, Giesler and Goldbach to the German Ministry of War and to the Admiralty to its numerous zoom, patents and to provide preliminary planning of warfare available. After evaluating the proposals, which were headed by Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin , the Transport Technology Commission of the War Ministry , the Technical Test Commission of the Navy and the Torpedo Test Command received the order on November 13, 1914 to conduct remote control tests with airships, aircraft, boats and torpedoes to employ.
In particular, the development of a remote control boat made of frame wood was in the foreground with regard to the British naval blockade . The first and still somewhat awkward attempts were made in the spring of 1915 on the Müggelsee near Berlin , then also in Travemünde and Kiel . After evaluating the experiments, the following conclusions were reached:
- Extremely difficult to accommodate the large remote control systems in small boats.
- Foregoing the development of a guided torpedo .
- Concentration of all forces and resources on an open remote control boat.
- Dispensing with radio control (too prone to failure) and resorting to cable remote control.
- Construction of high-lying control stations in the area of operation; Tests from the Bülk lighthouse had shown that test boats could be guided up to 15 km from the control center on a clear day.
In September 1915 the construction of 12 boats was ordered. Four were to be subjected to further sea trials and tests, and eight were to be immediately relocated to Flanders to attack the English monitors crossing there. At the same time, the order was issued to set up 30 m high control centers, which were set up in Ostend and Zeebrugge . In February 1916 another five boats were ordered, which were intended for the Libau - North Kurland area . The total of 17 boats were given the designations FL (remote control boat) 1-17 after their completion.
A 700 kg explosive charge was housed in the bow area, which detonated using a simple impact fuse . In the event of failure, the explosive charge could be detonated remotely. A applying to prevent non-functioning or defective snap boats by enemy units, contacts were attached to the cover caps of the boat that triggered when opening without operating the concealed locking the explosion of the explosive charge.
The control system supplied by Siemens was operational for up to 6 hours. The drum with 20 km of cable weighed 800 kg. The end of the cable was connected to the control center. This was able to transmit the following commands to the bomb:
- Making the command devices operational
- Starting the engine (whereupon the boat immediately started moving because it had no engine clutch) and engine stop
- Rudder angle continuously controllable up to the "hard position"
- Self-destruction
- Let the rear light come on so that the boat could be seen in the control center in the dark
- Turning the fogger on and off
Further developments
Remote control from a control station with cables soon proved to be an inadequate solution, so that the control centers were subsequently mounted on torpedo boats that were supposed to follow the explosive vessel at a safe distance. The installation was also carried out in airships, which sent commands about 5,000 meters behind the boat via a cable drum that was now extended to 50 km. In addition, there were renewed efforts from 1918 to establish a secure wireless connection that could be maintained from an airplane. However, the development came too late to be of any military use.
The whereabouts and successes of the FL explosive devices
- FL 1: Flanders area
- FL 2: Flanders area
- FL 3: Flanders area, April 24, 1916, failure of the control system, self-destruction
- FL 4: Kurland area , November 3, 1917 sunk by artillery fire during an attack by a destroyer
- FL 5: Flanders area, September 25, 1916, engine fire during attack drive, self-destruction
- FL 6: Flanders area
- FL 7: Space Flanders, March 1, 1917, demolition of 50 meters of the pier of Nieuwpoort with subsequent failure of the French and English Artillerieleitstände
- FL 8: September 6, 1917, sunk by artillery fire while attacking an English monitor ship
- FL 9: Kurland area, no use
- FL 10: Kurland area, May 28, 1918, wireless attack from an aircraft, which had to be aborted due to failure of the aircraft antenna
- FL 11: Kurland area, no use
- FL 12: Flanders area, October 28, 1917, attack run on the monitor HMS Erebus (8,000 t), failure of the percussion fuse, triggered by the aircraft control station explosive charge, which, however, caused only minor damage to the ship
- FL 13: unknown
- FL 14: Kurland area, no use
- FL 15: Kurland area, no use
- FL 16: unknown
- FL 17: Flanders area
Due to the continued unsuccessfulness of the FL boats, it was decided in early 1918 to stop the construction program, although the Reichsmarineamt , the Marine Corps and the chief of naval aviation saw promising development potential. Another planned explosive device that was supposed to reach a maximum speed of 40 knots was no longer implemented, and the Austrian Navy , which was very interested in the use of explosive boats, was advised not to start with appropriate attempts.
Footnotes
- ↑ Harald Fock: Naval small weapons. Manned torpedoes, small submarines, small speedboats, explosives yesterday - today - tomorrow. Nikol, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-930656-34-5 , pp. 103-104.