Borgward Seeteufel

The Seeteufel ("Sea Devil"), also code-named Elefant or Projekt Lödige, was a midget submarine on caterpillar tracks. It was developed in 1944 at the Kriegsmarine's torpedo testing station at Eckernförde under Dipl.-Ing. Alois Lödige. Small German submarines such as the Neger, Marder and Molch were hard to launch without harbour facilities. A tracked boat could leave from any beach under its own power and be recovered there again.

Design

The prototype was a 13.5 m craft with a beam of about 2 m and a crew of two. Diesel engines were in short supply, so it was given a stop-gap 80 hp petrol truck engine in the bow, beneath a fixed snorkel mast that also carried the periscope, aerial and compass. The engine could be switched between the single propeller and the tracks, and a 30 hp electric motor drove it underwater. The crew sat behind the engine, with aircraft-style controls under a Plexiglas dome. A red line painted on the mast helped the driver hold snorkel depth. Planned armament was two 53.3 cm torpedoes or two mines, with possibly a machine gun or flame-thrower for amphibious work.

Trials and fate

Trials at Eckernförde in summer 1944 showed that the boat handled very well in the water, despite its bulky shape. On land, however, it was underpowered and its tracks were too narrow. A production version with a 200 to 300 hp diesel and wider tracks was planned, and a series (one source says 23 boats) was ordered from the Carl Borgward works in Bremen, but production never started. The only prototype was taken to the Lübeck area and blown up before British troops arrived in 1945.