During the Second World War, the submarine had easily placed itself at the head of all naval weapons for its influence on the course of the war.
The Germans in particular had perfected its tactics to the point that he was very close to assuring them the victory which could not have failed to follow the cutting of maritime communications between Great Britain and North America, or its other sources of supply in food, fuel and other materials firsts. But the increasing success of the various countermeasures, especially those which associated the action of the air force with that of the surface escort groups, showed that what was needed was a real submarine - that is to say a building which after taking the dive could keep it for weeks.
The "Schnorchel" provided a partial solution. It was a breathing tube that allowed a submarine in periscopic immersion to use its diesel engines to recharge its batteries.
But this Dutch invention, which moreover dated from before the war still forced the submarine to betray its presence by letting the head of its breathing tubes stick out of the water.
This is why the Germans developed the Walther submarine, so named after its inventor, who had developed a turbine running on ingoline, a highly concentrated form of oxygen peroxide which, when decomposed, releases a high heat . In other words, the oxygen released, when mixed with sulfur-free fuel, can be used to turn water into steam that is sent to a turbine.
Everything happens passing in a closed circuit, this combustion does not require any ,External source of oxygen, which allows Walther-powered submarines to sail for long periods while diving.
But when the war comes finished, the Germans had only been able to complete a few samples, enough however that the British and American navies could each obtain one as reparations.
The Royal Navy continued its experiments on the submarine Walther rename Meteorite, and in 1955 completed the first two training submarines quickly fitted with a modified Walther engine.
But the danger of explosion or fire was such with this fuel that the idea was not pursued further and, for the US Navy of less, did not go beyond tests on the captured German submarine