10 Most Chilling Nazi Super Weapons That Hitler Could Have Used To Win WWII

5. U-Boats That Could Have Launched V-2 Rockets At New York

The Nazis also had more practical plans for attacking the continental USA. Rather than building one or two space planes, the German Navy devised a more practical and far cheaper means of hitting American cities: they intended to build the first ballistic missile submarine. Several experiments with firing relatively small rockets from U-Boats had already been conducted with mixed success, but when the V-2 rocket was developed, it occurred to the Nazis that their submarines could be adapted to launch these rockets from positions close to the US coast - placing American cities such as New York well within their range. Since the V-2 rockets were far too big to fit on a U-Boat, a 500-tonne submersible vehicle that could be towed behind a submarine was designed. The watertight towed vehicle would resemble a large torpedo, with a V-2 hidden inside it. Once the U-Boat was in position, the submersible's ballast tanks would be flooded to tilt the vehicle into an upright position and the vessel would open up to reveal the rocket. After the U-Boat's crew prepared the rocket for launch, the V-2 could be fired remotely from the safety of the U-Boat. Then the submarine could return to port to pick up another rocket. Despite construction of three of the towed submersibles being ordered towards the end of 1944, the deteriorating situation for the Nazis meant only one was built and the German Navy never had the opportunity to conduct trials. Still, with one prototype actually constructed, this technology got worrying close to being used in combat.