Among the many small craft developed or adapted during World
War II for British Commandos and Special Forces, one at least must be described
here. If it had been committed to action as planned, the Vosper Boom Patrol
Boat would have been as extra-hazardous, if not properly suicidal, as the Italian
EMB which inspired it.
The suicidal attack on Valletta, Malta, made by Italian MTM
explosive boats in July 1941. After close study of an intact MTM captured
there, the British firm of Vosper was asked to construct a similar boat – with
the added capability of being air-dropped, with its pilot, into a target area.
This requirement was probably originated by LtCol H. G. “Blondie” Hasler, RM,
commander of the raiding force with the innocent cover-name of Royal Marine
Boom Patrol Detachment (RMBPD) and best known as the planner and leader of the
“Cockleshell” canoeists’ assault on shipping at Bordeaux in December 1942.
The Vosper-built EMB, cover-named the Boom Patrol Boat
(BPB), closely resembled its Italian model. It weighed c.1.5 tons and was 18ft
(5.5m) in length and 5ft (1.52m) in beam. Its internal combustion engine, an
American-built, 12-cylinder, 140hp Gray Fireball, gave a maximum speed of above
30kt (34.5mph, 55.5kmh), with an action radius of some 60nm (69 miles, 111km)
at cruising speed. Its bow-mounted charge of c.500lb (226kg) of TNT was
somewhat smaller than that of the Italian boat, but its fuzing system – impact,
hydrostatic or time-fuze – was electrical rather than mechanical, thus allowing
the pilot to select a system at any time during an attack. Operational
procedure was the same as that of the MTM: in the target area, the pilot would
select his victim, aim his boat, bring it to maximum speed, and then ditch with
his back-rest/life-raft (called a “flutterboard”).
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