Royal Navy X-Men

No, I'm not talking about the Marvel Comics mutants here.

Instead, I'm referring to the volunteers who served aboard the British Royal Navy's experimental midget submarines. The four-man submarines were known as X-Craft, and hence their crews as X-Men. I hadn't heard the term used until recently when I saw a BBC documentary on the 'Lost Heroes' of Operation Source.

Three 50-foot midget submarines traversed over a thousand miles (much under tow), infiltrated a Norwegian fjord under heavy guard, and managed to damage the German battleship Tirpitz so badly that she didn't put to sea for over six months.

All 3 subs used in the attack were lost, and the commanders of two of them were awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry.

It seems to me that WWII is unique for being so full of astounding actions by all parties. While Source was certainly one of the war's greatest raids, it was not the only one. The list of such actions, both long-planned and performed extemporaneously, seems at times absurdly long.