The Chariot was a British manned torpedo used in World War II. It was inspired by the operations of Italian naval commandos, in particular the raid on 19 December 1941 by members of the Decima Flottiglia MAS who rode "Maiali" human torpedoes into the port of Alexandria and there placed limpet mines on or near the battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth as well as an 8,000-ton tanker, causing serious damaga.
Two models of the Chariot were produced: The first was the Mark I, produced from 1942, 34 were made.
Also 30 Mark II versions were produced from early 1944.
Both types were made by Stothert & Pitt, crane makers at Bath, Somerset.
A Chariot's limited range meant that it had to be transported relatively close to its objective before its crew could ride it to the target under its own battery power. The warhead, which was detonated by a timer, would be detached and left at the enemy ship. The crew would then attempt to ride the Chariot to a rendezvous with a friendly submarine or be forced to abandon the Chariot and escape by other means.
The first attempt to use Chariots operationally was Operation Title. Two Chariots were transported to occupied Norway in October 1942 aboard a fishing vessel, the Arthur, with the objective of attacking the German Battleship Tirpitz in Trondheim Fjord. In order to avoid detection by the Germans, the Chariots were towed submerged under the vessel for part of the way but both worked loose in bad weather and were lost. Later deployment of the Chariot was made by carrying the machines to their point of departure by submarine. In early attempts, tubes were fitted to the deck of a submarine to contain the Chariots.
Later in the war, Chariots were instead secured to the deck of the submarine using chocks.
Operational successes
Arguably, British operations with Chariots were not as successful as the Italians' operations had been. Nevertheless, interspersed among a number of technical equipment failures and bad luck, there were some notable successes.
Operation Principle: Attack on ships in Palermo harbour
On 3 January 1943 a number of Chariots launched from the submarines HMS Thunderbolt and HMS Trooper attacked and sank the Italian Capitani Romani-class cruiser the Ulpio Traiano in Palermo harbour, and severely damaged the Italian troop ship Viminale.
Operation Husky: Beach reconnaissance
Chariots were not only used for attacks on enemy vessels. In May and June 1943 reconnaissance of potential landing beaches for the allied invasion of Sicily, Operation Husky, was carried out partly by Chariots deployed from the submarines HMS Unseen and HMS Unrivalled.
Operation QWZ: Sinking of the Bolzano
On 2 June 1944 a joint British and Italian (i.e. post-armistice) operation was mounted in order to try to prevent the German military from using the Italian cruisers Bolzano and Gorizia at La Spezia. Of two Chariots launched, one began to leak from its float tank, could not be controlled and was abandoned. The other reached the Bolzano and, with the assistance of Italian frogmen, sank the Bolzano.
Ceylon Secret Operation 51: Phuket Harbour
In 28–29 October 1944 "the only completely successful British Chariot operation" occurred when two crews on Mk II Chariots, commanded by Lieutenant Tony Eldridge RNVR, were launched from the submarine HMS Trenchant and sank two ships in the harbour of Japanese-occupied Phuket, Thailand.
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