A question that came across me when i was reading an article oabout a japanese mini sub found a few miles of the coast of pearl harbour. Were there any american mini subs?
No, we actually tried to bring our sailors home alive. When I was stationed at the sub base in Groton, I saw several of the Axis minisubs (the Germans made some, too). They looked pretty cool until I wondered where they had room for a potty. The Brits made some minisubs (the "X-craft") which were used against the Tirpitz, among other targets. They could be towed long distances by a larger submarine with a temp crew aboard. The tactical crew would board the X-craft just before getting to the target area, as the conditions were so bad that the transit crew was too worn out to conduct operations. A few of these were lost in tow, sadly. Crappy way to die, to my way of thinking. The American navy did use small submarines early in the 20th century, the Holland boats. They were around 60 feet long, had a torpedo tube, and two dynamite guns, one forward and one aft. They were not capable of leaving coastal waters, but were very good for their day.
Holy crap those things are small in scale! They would be about thirteen inches long, and a little wider than an inch! Probably only possible in 1/72... Or bigger....
Just plain impossible in scale. You will have enough trouble building the largest WWII sub, let alone the smallest of all time.
