Submarine snorkel
Esnórquel (tubo de respiración de submarino)
- Date
- 1940 · confidence medium
- Place
- Den Helder, North Holland, Netherlands
- Credited to
- Jan Jacob Wichers (Royal Netherlands Navy)
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A tube with a float valve that lets a submarine at periscope depth take in air for its diesels and recharge batteries without surfacing. German U-boats adopted it from 1943 after capturing Dutch examples.
James Richardson conceived a breathing tube in 1916; Wichers designed the practical snorkel in the 1930s and the submarines O-19 and O-20 carried it in 1940. Priority is disputed.
What it led to
- submarines that spent weeks submerged
- evasion of Allied radar and aircraft
- nuclear submarines of continuous submersion