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Operation Source
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The attack
The attack
The first craft, X6, made it through the anti-sub boom and after some trouble with a flooded periscope, slipped through the boat entrance past the double nets. Then the periscope flooded again, blinding her, and she ran aground and broke surface. German lookouts failed to realise what she was, allowing the midget submarine to turn back around and attack. But at only 80 yards, she broached again and the alarm finally sounded. The submarine dived and ran under the Tirpitz, fouled the nets on the other side and broached once more. X6, now under fire, scraped backwards down the side of the Tirpitz and released her charges on the way. She scuttled herself just as German boats pulled up alongside to take the crew prisoner.
X7 succeeded in dropping two charges but became entangled in a series of nets. The detonation of the charges blew X7 out of the net but also damaged the craft, making her uncontrollable. Repeated fire from the Tirpitz hit the craft and she finally sank, with two crew members captured.
German battleship gunners sighted X5 about a quarter mile outside of the nets and destroyed the craft.
The operation ended with all six of the X craft lost, as well as ten men killed and six taken prisoner. Even so, the damage sustained to the Tirpitz kept the ship out of action for at least the following six months.
