Motorised Submersible Canoe - Operational Service

Operational Service

SBs were also used for Operation Rimau, a raid on Japanese shipping in Singapore in September 1944 by commandos from the joint Australian, British and New Zealand 'Z Special Unit', sometimes known as 'Z Force'. After being found by a patrol boat, the Sleeping Beauties had to be scuttled along with the junk they were carried in. Ten of the attacking force were taken prisoner by the Japanese and subsequently beheaded.

A pair of Sleeping Beauties are believed to be captured by German forces after an unsuccessful attack on enemy shipping in Måløy by members of the Norwegian Kompani Linge. The divers were landed with their SBs on the nearby island of Gangsøy. However, a local shepherd girl saw them and, thinking that they were thieving Germans, she reported them to the authorities. The divers were then chased across Norway by the Germans until they were picked up safely and taken back to their base on the Shetland Islands.

In the summer of 1944, ‘Sleeping Beauty Number 72’ was delivered to the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the fore-runner of the CIA, and became the early prototype for today’s Swimmer Delivery Vehicle. It was used from December 1944 to August 1945 to evaluate US harbour defences, stage mock attacks on capital ships and develop underwater communications equipment.