German Anti-Shipping Rocket

(ANDREW ROBERT BREEN) wrote in message ...
In article ,
Thomas W Ping wrote:
I could've sworn that a couple of years ago, I read somewhere of a
German rocket powered (don't *think* it was an air breather), possibly
radio controlled, air launched (H-111H variant?) anti-shipping missile
that saw a *bit* of use toward the end of WWII. I can't, for the life
of me, come up with anything via Google. Did I dream this?

The Germans made a moderate amount of use of two types of ASM from
1943 to mid-1944, after which ECM and fighter opposition pretty well
ruled further use out. The teo types were the Henschel;193 (293?),
which was a rocket-assisted HE weapon, first used in 1943, with the
first sinking being HM sloop Egret in the Bay of Biscay (my father's
old ship - he'd left a couple of months before), with HMCS Athabaskan
damaged in the same action. Admiralty was aware of the problem posed
by these weapons - Egret had an admiralty ECM team aboard at the time of
her loss (none of them got out - in fact the doctor was the only
man to escape from below deck). There were a few more successes for the
weapon - notably the cruiser Spartan - but jamming measures rapidly
rendered it useless.
The other weapon - Fritz-X - was a guided bomb, intended for use against
armoured ships. Sank the Italian battleship Roma and crippled Warspite,
but again was rapidly rendered ineffective by ECM.

The Germans actually conducted tests with glide torpedos in WW1 with
the Siemens-Shuckert torpedo glider. They were testes from Zeppelins Z
XVIII, L25, and L35. They were to be launched from 1,500 m but the
airships proved too slow; instead, production of close to 100 glide
torpedos was intended for the aircraft Zeppelin-Staaken R IV... but
there is no record of any being tried in combat.
During WW2, the Germans renewed interest in guided/glide weapons
continued with the Fritz X, Hs 293, and others.
The Fritz X met with some success. On September 9, 1943 III/KG 100
sunk the Italian battleship "Roma" and heavily damaged the "Italia".
In subsequent attacks against the allies at Salerno, the Fritz X hits
were recorded on the US Cruiser "Savannah" and three destroyers. On
September 16, 1943 III/KG 100 hit the British battleship "Warspite".
It was damaged so badly it was towed to Malta and out of action for 6
months.
After the D-Day landings, the Fritz X score more hits destroying a
bridge at Pontaubault on Aug 7, 1944 and a big attack was planned
using He-177s in later August but had to be called off when the
bombers were destroyed on the ground on Aug 22, 1944 due to their
crews being stranded in Straussburg due to ;ack of transportation!
That was the end of the FrItz X.
The Hs 293, meanwhile, was first deployed in August 1943 by KG 100
operating against enemy sub hunters in the Gulf of Biscaya. On
September 30, 1943 the harbor at Ajaccio was attacked with Hs 293
armed D0 217s. Two Hs 293s fell short and landed on the waterfront...
to be reconstructed by the allies. These mistakes along with missile
failures set the program back; nevertheless, Fw 200s and He 177s flew
several successful missions with the Hs 293 which resulted in a 31%
hit rate. II/KG 100 achieved a hit rate of 55%. Various further models
of the Hs 293 were tested before the war's end including the
television-guided Hs 293D.
In addition to the two weapons above the Germans tested a wide range
of guided weapons including the L.10 "Friedensengle" glider torpedo-
450 of which were built but not used at the front.

Rob