There
are those who say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks.
Obviously they have never heard of the gallant HMS CAMPBELTOWN, a
superanuated destroyer which, in the deep twilight of an otherwise
undistinguished career, still managed to bring her very own version of
'shock and awe' to the supposedly impregnable U-Boat base of
St-Nazaire, France.
Constructed for the US Navy by the Bath Ironworks, of Bangor, Maine, she, as DD131, the USS BUCHANAN, entered service way back in 1919, eventually being resuscitated in 1940 for service with an increasingly desperate Royal Navy, in the 1st Town Flotilla, as HMS Campbeltown. Chosen to be the 'explosive' ship at the heart of Operation CHARIOT because of her age, unreliability and general expendability, she, under the inspired direction of Lieutenant Commander 'Sam' Beattie, VC, RN, raised her game to the point where she performed faultlessly on the night, her success more than compensating for failures elsewhere.
Constructed for the US Navy by the Bath Ironworks, of Bangor, Maine, she, as DD131, the USS BUCHANAN, entered service way back in 1919, eventually being resuscitated in 1940 for service with an increasingly desperate Royal Navy, in the 1st Town Flotilla, as HMS Campbeltown. Chosen to be the 'explosive' ship at the heart of Operation CHARIOT because of her age, unreliability and general expendability, she, under the inspired direction of Lieutenant Commander 'Sam' Beattie, VC, RN, raised her game to the point where she performed faultlessly on the night, her success more than compensating for failures elsewhere.
The
above image, courtesy of the family of Captain Robert Ryder, VC.,RN,
shows the CAMPBELTOWN as her refit nears completion, prior to the
raid. The screen shown immediately below the bridge structure is where
'Major Bill' Copland took station during the final run-in to target -
this where he could supervise the fire of both the ship's 12-pounder
gun, and Lieutenant Johnny Proctor's 3" mortars, to port and
starboard of his position. Right of the screen, can be seen the
open port-side hatch which, with its twin on the nearer side of the
bridge, gave access to the main deck amidships, where the bulk of the
Commando parties lay behind low armored screens.
This
image, of CAMPBELTOWN's shattered starboard bow, is taken from the east
side of the caisson, close to the position of 20mm gun 66.
Evidence of the fire on the fo'c's'le is obvious, as is the
degree to which the old destroyer's bow rode over the massive structure
of the caisson, placing her 4.25-ton charge right next to the caisson
face. Visible left of picture is the screen of the 12-pounder gun,
whose warped barrel is now on display by the Monument du Commando on
the St Nazaire seafront: and immediately beyond is the bulk of the Pumping
Station, whose roof-top 20mm cannon were ideally placed to rake the
destroyer's decks as she came steaming in from the direction of the
Mole. These were the priority targets of Captain Donald Roy's Assault
Party, disembarking under heavy fire over the port side of the bow.
THE 'LEGEND' OF ST-NAZAIRE
A particular myth surrounding Campbeltown's
explosion and the failure of the Germans to discover her hidden charge,
still appears quite regularly in accounts of the raid. The story is
that the Germans were fooled into believing the ship was 'safe' by two
Commando Subalterns who allowed themselves to be taken on board the
ship for questioning even though they knew they would inevitably die
when she blew up. It is, without doubt, a particularly appealing story:
however, records exist which account for the place, time and fate of
every fallen officer - and none died as a consequence of the ship's
destruction. The 'legend' first appeared in C.E. Lucas Phillips' 1958
account of the raid in which he describes it as a 'persistent French
legend', concluding finally, however, that 'there is no positive
evidence'. Perhaps it should be borne in mind that visitors to the
apparently harmless hulk could have included both members of the
Organisation Todt, whose uniform could easily have been mistaken for
British khaki, and also U-Boat personnel some of whom wore adapted
British battledress captured during the retreats of 1940.
