Some of the "Barrel Sub" designs.

"Barrel Subs", their story.

The time of the great warships is now. Large fleets sail the seven seas engaging in fearsome naval battles. Ships are blown out of the water by fierce folly’s of dozens of iron canon balls. The great impressive royal navies are fighting to gain control over the seven seas. Their mission is to achieve a safe passage for their merchant vessels which transport valuable goods to their home ports from all around the globe.

The merchant vessels are well protected. They sail, accompanied by one or more battleships. It is best to stay out of their naval ways unless you like bouncing some heavy artillery back.

A true pirate always looks for treasure, even if the loot is well protected by a naval army. In these cases pirates are a most inventive kind of people. It was David that slew Goliath with only a small piece of leather and a single stone. History is ready to repeat itself so it is time to think big and act in a small but effective way.

The age of the barrel subs is here: The little wooden one man subs sneak towards their prey in order to rip open the hull of the enemy ships. Once the large battleships has gone to the illustrious depth of the sea, the pirate ships can take over and attacks the merchant fleet.

How the subs work: The wooden barrel subs have the nasty habit of floating. For this reason the subs are loaded with stones in order to minimize the floating capacity of the sub. Once the subs make way, the depth rudder does its thing and will help to decent the sub just below sea level, avoiding the eye of the enemy. The propulsion of these subs is mostly manpowered. With ingenious devices that can be powered by hand and foot, these water dynamic vessels can develop high speeds for a short time. These speeds are essential for the so called “ramming” action.

Sub tactics: The barrel subs are tiny vessels and hard to point out in open sea. Even when they are spotted it is difficult to hit them because of their small surface. Barrel subs operate in swarms. They are build to inflict damage which is rather a tough job and asks for a bit of luck. Preferably, subs operate with the sun behind them or at night. In the last case the chance of a sub being rammed by a ship is significant.

The submarine fleet:

The diversity of subs expanded over time due to the way of trail and error. Subs where introduced, modified and replaced. The next summary shows the line of barrel subs that are well known for their achievements in successful naval encounters.

The “Ripper I”
The first and famous single man barrel sub that molested many well armed ship and will continue to do so. The razor sharp teeth are a match for any wooden hull it collides in to. The single row of teeth makes perfect vertical cuts in the hull. Once the damage is inflicted the sub can go in reverse to take the ship on for a second attack.

length: 5.5 cm / 2.17 “
wide: 3.5 cm / 1.38 “
Height: 2.0 cm / 0.79 “


The “Ripper II”
The success of the first “Ripper” asked for a newer and more severe version. The “Ripper II” looks more severely then his older brother and is more heavily build. When operated well, this sub can inflict more severe damage then the “Ripper I”. The weak point of this submarine however is that a full hit often will end in being stuck in the hull of the boat it rammed. This is why there are 2 escape hatches, one on either side.

length: 5.8 cm / 2.28 “
wide: 3.3 cm / 1.30 “
Height: 1.8 cm / 0.71 “


The “Recon I”
This sub is reasonably fast at open sea. Its attack value is not impressive however its stump metal nose can bruise a hull, especially on a more vunerable spot. The “Recon I” has another more important task at sea. While producing horn blowing sounds under water, the “Recon I” can rally the fleet of barrel subs in certain directions. It proofed to be of great value during the advancing stages of naval battles. Once the canons start pounding however, the value of the “Recon I” is downgraded to a minimum.

length: 7.5 cm / 2.95 “
wide: 4.0 cm / 1.57 “
Height: 2.0 cm / 0.79 “


The “Hull Cutter”
An astonishing invention occurred during the arms race when the rotating saw blade was invented. The “Cutter” was the first barrel sub that had a double mechanism on board that provided the thrust of the sub an, if needed, also provided the power for rotating the saw blade. The tactics of the “Cutter” was to set in for a dive, not too far from the hull of the ship. While making speed and with a good feel of distance to the hull of the ship, the saw was activated. When the sub collides with the hull, the saw starts cutting its way through the hide of the ship. While doing so, the sub starts to lift up slowly up until it surface. In doing so, the saw will produce a fine and straight cut in the hull.

length: 6.2 cm / 2.44 “
wide: 3.5 cm / 1.38 “
Height: 1.9 cm / 0.75 “


The “T-Cutter” (Tiny Cutter) ((nickname Flipper))
Its bigger brother, the “Hull Cutter” proofed to be reasonable successful. Its mass made him stronger but also a bit slower and made him more sensitive to unfriendly fire. The “T-Cutter” is much more swift in open water. Compared to its bigger brother it is lightning fast and can make spectacular U-turns. Due to these statistics, the “T-Razor’ is also known as “Flipper”. The impact of the “T-Cutter” is less devastating because of the lack of mass behind the saw.

length: 4.8 cm / 1.89“
wide: 3.9 cm / 1.50“
Height: 1.9 cm / 0.75 “


The “Battle Axe”
A lean and mean sub machine is the “Battle Axe”. This sub is solely made for dealing out final blows and is equipped with a large axe head that breaks through the even most thickest hulls in the ocean. Due to the fact that the change of getting free after the ram is minimal, the front part of the sub can be disconnected so the sub can break free and head for safer waters.

length: 8.0 cm / 3.15 “
wide: 4.0 cm / 1.57 “
Height: 1.9 cm / 0.75 “


The “Wooden Glad”
The “Wooden Glad” isn’t an actual one person barrel sub anymore. First of all, it can obtain 2 or even 3 persons at a time. Secondly, the “Wooden Glad” can not actually dive. It can lay low on the water surface once it makes speed but as soon as the speed drops, the “Wooden Glad” emerges from the sea. The floating capacity of the “Wooden Glad” is its ultimate weapon. The crew is trained to focus only on the rudder of the enemy ship. Its task is to ram the rudder or rather lifting it by emerging underneath it and in doing so, jamming it. The man on these subs are the bravest of the entire barrel sub crews. This is why we speak of “Wooden Glads and Iron Men”

length: 9.0 cm / 3.54 “
wide: 3.7 cm / 1.46 “
Height: 1.9 cm / 0.75 “


The “911”
The rescue squad at sea consists of the “911” subs. 911 is the pirates emergency code meaning; With every 9 subs you need at least 1 rescue sub that can save 1 person. The fleet of barrel subs can bring along as many rescue subs it desires but the sub is still called the “911”.

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