Operation Neptune
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Operation Neptune was the term for the naval side of Operation Overlord and the Allied invasion of Normandy, such as transporting the soldiers from England, landing them, and providing fire-support. Neptune took place on Gold Beach, Juno Beach, Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc, Sword Beach and Utah Beach. Neptune began on 6 June 1944 and was considered complete on 30 June 1944.
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[edit] Participants
The primary ground-force participants in the landings that began Operation Neptune were nine divisions drawn from the American, British and Canadian armies, plus numerous smaller units, some drawn from other allied armies (Polish, Czech, Free French..). During subsequent weeks more units were landed as reinforcements.
- For details of the land and air participants in Operation Neptune see Battle of Normandy
The Invasion Fleet was drawn from eight different navies, comprising 6,939 vessels (1,213 warships, 4,126 transport vessels (landing ships and landing craft) and 1,600 support vessels which included a number of merchant vessels).
The overall commander of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force, providing close protection and bombardment at the beaches, was Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay who had been responsible for the planning of the invasion of North Africa in 1942 and one of the two fleets carrying troops for the invasion of Sicily in the following year. The Allied Naval Expeditionary Force was divided into two Naval Task Forces: Western (Rear-Admiral Alan G Kirk) and Eastern (Rear-Admiral Sir Philip Vian – another veteran of the Italian landings).
The warships provided cover for the transports against the enemy whether in the form of surface warships, submarines or as an aerial attack and give support to the landings through shore bombardment. These ships included the Allied Task Force "O".
[edit] Allied warships
Battleships Six battleships took part: three British and three US:
- USS Arkansas
- HMS Nelson
- USS Nevada
- HMS Ramillies
- USS Texas (Flagship of Rear Admiral C.F. Bryant)
- HMS Warspite
Cruisers Twenty-three cruisers (17 British and Commonwealth, 3 US, 2 Free French and 1 Polish), including:
- HMS Ajax
- HMS Arethusa,
- HMS Argonaut
- USS Augusta
- HMS Belfast (Flagship of Rear Admiral Dalrymple-Hamilton)
- HMS Danae
- HMS Diadem
- HMS Durban (used as a blockship in "Gooseberry" breakwater)
- ORP Dragon (Polish, damaged in July and then used as a blockship in "Gooseberry" breakwater)
- HMS Emerald
- HMS Enterprise
- HMS Frobisher
- Georges Leygues (Free French)
- HMS Glasgow
- HMS Mauritius (Flagship of Rear Admiral Patterson)
- Montcalm (Free French, Flagship of Rear Admiral Jaujard)
- HMS Orion
- USS Quincy
- HMS Scylla (Admiral Vian's flagship, mined and seriously damaged, out of action until after the war)
- USS Tuscaloosa
Destroyers & escorts 135 ships (eighty-five British and Dominion, 39 US, 7 Free French and 7 other Allied):
- HMCS Algonquin
- USS Amesbury
- USS Baldwin
- USS Barton
- HMS Bleasdale
- HMS Boadicea (torpedoed and sunk 13 June)
- USS Carmick
- HMS Cattistock
- HMS Cottesmore
- USS Doyle
- HMS Eglinton
- HMS Faulknor
- USS Frankford
- HMS Fury (mined 21 June and not repaired)
- HMS Glaisdale
- HMS Grenville
- USS Harding
- USS Hobson
- HMS Jervis
- HMS Kelvin
- HMS Kempenfelt
- HMCS Kitchener
- ORP Krakowiak, (Polish, former HMS Silverton)
- La Combattante (Free French, former HMS Haldon)
- USS Laffey
- USS McCook
- HMS Melbreak
- HMS Middleton
- USS Murphy
- USS O'Brien
- HMS Pytchley
- USS Satterlee
- HMS Saumarez
- HMS Scorpion
- HMS Scourge
- HMS Serapis
- HMCS Sioux
- ORP Slazak (Polish)
- HMS Stevenstone
- HNoMS Stord
- HNoMS Svenner (hit by German torpedo and sunk off Normandy at dawn, 6 June)[1]
- HMS Swift (mined and sunk 24 June 1944 off Normandy)
- HMS Talybont
- HMS Tanatside
- USS Thomson
- HMS Ulster
- HMS Ulysses
- HMS Undaunted
- HMS Undine
- HMS Urania
- HMS Urchin
- HMS Ursa
- HMS Venus
- HMS Verulam
- HMS Vigilant
- HMS Virago
- HMS Wrestler (damaged by a mine and not repaired)
Other warships 508 ships (352 British, 154 US and 2 other Allied):
- USS Bayfield, attack transport
- HMS Centurion, old battleship sunk as a blockship in "Gooseberry" breakwater
- Courbet, Free Naval French Forces, old battleship sunk as a blockship in "Gooseberry" breakwater
- USS Charles Carroll attack transport
- HNLMS Flores, Dutch gunboat
- HMS Lawford, frigate (bombed and sunk}
- HMS Roberts, monitor
- HMS Bulolo, H.Q. ship
The British 9th and 159th minesweeping flotillas and U.S. 7th Minesweeping Squadron provided minesweeping protection.
An anti-submarine screen to the force was provided by HMSS Onslow, Offa, Onslaught, Oribi (G66), Melbreak and Brissenden.
[edit] Operation Gambit
A small part of this operation was Operation Gambit, when British midget submarines (X-Craft) supplied navigation beacons to guide landing craft.
[edit] Naval screen
An important part of Neptune was the isolation of the invasion routes and beaches from any intervention by the German Navy – the Kriegsmarine. The responsibility for this was assigned to the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. There were two principal perceived German naval threats. The first was surface attack by German capital ships from anchorages in Scandinavia and the Baltic. This didn't materialise since, by mid-1944, the battleships were damaged and the cruisers were used for training and the Kriegsmarine's fuel allocation had been cut by a third. The inactivity may also have resulted from Hitler's disillusion with the Kriegsmarine. In any case, the Royal Navy had strong forces available to repel any attempts and the Kiel Canal area was mined (Operation Bravado), as a precaution.
The second perceived major threat was that of U-boats transferred from the Atlantic. Air surveillance from three escort carriers and RAF Coastal Command maintained a cordon well west of Land's End. Few U-boats were spotted and most of the escort groups were moved nearer to the landings.
Further efforts were made to seal the Western Approaches against German naval forces from Brittany and the Bay of Biscay. Minefields were laid (Operation Maple) to force enemy ships away from air protection where they could be attacked by Allied destroyer flotillas. Again, enemy activity was minor, but on 4 July four German destroyers were either sunk or forced back to Brest.
The Straits of Dover were closed by minefields, naval and air patrols, radar, and effective bombing raids on enemy ports. Local German naval forces were small, but could be reinforced from the Baltic. Their efforts, however, were concentrated on protecting the Pas de Calais against expected landings there and no attempt was made to force the blockade.
The screening operation destroyed few German ships, but the objective was achieved. There were no U-boat attacks against Allied shipping and few attempts by surface ships.
[edit] Naval bombardment
Warships provided supporting fire for the land forces. During Neptune, it was given a high importance, using ships from battleships to destroyers and landing craft. For example, the Canadians at Juno beach had fire support many times greater than they had had at Dieppe in 1942. The old battleships HMS Ramillies and Warspite and the monitor HMS Roberts were used to suppress shore batteries east of the Orne; cruisers targeted shore batteries at Ver-sur-Mer and Moulineaux; eleven destroyers for local fire support. In addition, there were modified landing-craft: eight Landing Craft Gun, each with two 4.7-inch guns; four Landing Craft Support with automatic cannon; eight Landing Craft Tank (Support), each with a single salvo of 1,100 5-inch rockets; eight Landing Craft Assault (Hedgerow), each with twenty-four bombs intended to detonate beach mines prematurely. Twenty-four Landing Craft Tank carried Priest self-propelled howitzers which also fired while they were on the run-in to the beach. Similar arrangements existed at other beaches.
Fire support went beyond the suppression of shore defences overlooking landing beaches and was also used to break up enemy concentrations as the troops moved inland. This was particularly noted in German reports: Field-Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt reported that
- ... The enemy had deployed very strong Naval forces off the shores of the bridgehead. These can be used as quickly mobile, constantly available artillery, at points where they are necessary as defence against our attacks or as support for enemy attacks. During the day their fire is skillfully directed by . . . plane observers, and by advanced ground fire spotters. Because of the high rapid-fire capacity of Naval guns they play an important part in the battle within their range. The movement of tanks by day, in open country, within the range of these naval guns is hardly possible.
[edit] Definition
Although many references state that Operation Neptune refers to the naval operations in support of Operation Overlord, the most reliable references make it clear that Overlord refers to the establishment of a large-scale lodgement in Normandy, and that Neptune refers to the landing phase; i.e. Neptune was the first part of Overlord. According to the D-day museum:[2]
- "The armed forces use codenames to refer to the planning and execution of specific military operations. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of north-west Europe. The assault phase of Operation Overlord was known as Operation Neptune. (...) Operation Neptune began on D-Day (6 June 1944) and ended on 30 June 1944. By this time, the Allies had established a firm foothold in Normandy. Operation Overlord also began on D-Day, and continued until Allied forces crossed the River Seine on 19 August 1944."
See also this Encyclopædia Britannica article[3] for further support of this usage.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Investigations indicate that the Svenner may have been hit by an early version of a German anti-shipping missile (possibly a Fritz X, since there is little indication that German MTBs came at firing range and no accounts of German naval activity in the invasion area itself have been recorded. There have also been reports of German bombers releasing long, torpedo-like bombs, but from a very long distance, no way near firing-range. The most likely, though, is that it was hit by a torpedo, but accounts point in either direction.
- ^ http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/faq.htm#overlord
- ^ http://www.britannica.com/normandy/pri/Q00282.html
