The British decided to try using X-craft midget submarines in an attempt to damage or even sing Tirpitz.
The 12th Submarine Flotilla carried out specialised training during the summer of 1943.
The X-craft needed to be towed by ordinary submarines. Although the craft had an operational range of 2,400 kilometer (1,500 miles) at 4 knots, just sufficient to make the passage to and return from Kåjord, the living conditions were so uncomfortable that the crew would be exhausted long before they reached the target. The idea was that the X.craft would be manned by a passage crew and when they were close to the target they were replaced by a operational crew.
The codename for the midget submarine attack on Tirpitz was Operation "Source", but even within this overall plan there were three separate sets of plans to be prepared. Operation "Funnel" was the attack on the target in Kåfjord; Operation "Empire" was for the Narvik area between 67° and 69° north; and Operation "Forced" for the Trondheim area between 63° and 65° north.
In order to give the X-craft sufficient darkness and at the same time sufficient moonlight to make their approach up the fjords the attack had to be made during the period 20-25 September 1943, and the former was therefore chosen as the latest date for slipping from the towing submarines. This entailed a departure from the Loch Cairnbawn base on the 11 September 1943.
The six towing submarines that would be used was: Thrasher, Truculent, Syrtis, Seanymph, Stubborn and Sceptre. Satyr and Sea-Dog were held in reserve at Scapa Flow at 24 hours' notice.
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