German Navy

Piloted torpedo

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U.S. soldiers inspect a German manned/piloted torpedo (Torpedowaffe Neger), run aground on a beach in Anzio, Italy. It consists of two parts: a larger one, where there was a "pilot" (see the dome of Plexiglas), and attached below a smaller warhead, which was supposed to be released. - Though not designed as a suicide weapon, the Neger would frequently become one when the torpedo started running but failed to release, and carried the craft and its pilot toward the target. - The first Negers entered service on March 1944 and the first mission took place on the night of April 20 and 21 1944. Thirty Negers were launched against Allied ships berthed in Anzio. Only 17 of them managed to deploy, with the other 13 capsizing upon reaching the water. Three failed to return and up until then, the Allies had no knowledge of this new unusual weapon. None had made any successful attacks.