Stickleback class submarine

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Career (UK)
General characteristics
Class and type:	Stickleback class submarine
Displacement:	35.2 tons surfaced / 39.27 submerged
Length:	50 ft 8 in (15.4 m) (pp) 53 ft 10 in (16.4 m) (oa)
Beam:	6 ft (1.8 m)
Draught:	7 ft 6 in (2.3 m)
Propulsion:	1 shaft diesel electric, 1 Perkins P6 6cyl diesel, 1 electric motor, 50 bhp/44 shp
Speed:	6.5 knots surfaced / 6 knots submerged
Complement:	5
Armament:	2 detachable 2 ton side charges

The Stickleback class submarines were midget submarines of the Royal Navy initially ordered as improved versions of the older XE class submarines.

The Royal Navy may have intended to use these craft to carry a 2 ton nuclear mine (based around the Red Beard weapon) into the approaches to the Soviet naval base at Kronstadt. The project was unsuccessful as there were problems finding and paying for the necessary fissile material.

[edit] Boats

There were 4 boats, launched 1954–1955:

• X51 Stickleback, launched July 1954, sold to the Royal Swedish Navy in 1958 and was renamed Spiggen
• X52 Shrimp, launched October 1954
• X53 Sprat, launched 30 December 1954
• X54 Minnow, launched 5 May 1955

[edit] References

• The Royal Navy Submarine Service, A Centennial History, Antony Preston