The quest for a true underwater submarine capable of sustaining high speeds for long periods, which blossomed during the first decade of this century, was brought to a halt by the outbreak of World War I. Both Germany and Britain then chose to concentrate on diesel engines for surface and electricity for submerged propulsion. Although still in its infancy, the diesel principle showed great development potential and the heavy fuel oil had the advantage of not igniting easily in combat, making it much safer than volatile petrol. The majority of power sources of the day required air to work, and therefore electricity supplied from batteries was the only feasible way of propelling boats once they had left the surface. Few designers pursued alternative propulsion systems after the war, although some interesting variations on the main theme were devised. The British, for example, built the large, steam propelled K Class, and there was talk of reviving pre-war ideas such as generating heat in a boiler powered by highly corrosive caustic soda. One of the most original ideas came from an engineer at the Krupp Germania Works in Kiel, Hellmuth Walter, who devised a closed-circuit propulsion system fuelled by hydrogen peroxide, which was capable of running underwater without air. Walter approached the Supreme Naval Command at a time when the Treaty of Versailles prevented Germany building or owning submarines. This did not mean, however, that Germany had lost interest in underwater warfare; simply that there was no possibility of financing large scale research.
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