|
|
HMS Salamander after 'friendly fire' attack
27.8.44
|
Date of Arrival |
Place |
Date of Departure |
Orders, Remarks etc |
|
? |
Tyne |
7.3.44 |
To Port Z A |
|
|
Scapa |
|
By 9/3 Jason, Harrier
(SO), Speedwell and Hussar had been joined by Britomart, Gleaner,
Halcyon, SALAMANDER and Seagull and the 1st MSF proceeded
to carry out minesweeping exercises. |
|
16.3.44 |
Aultbea |
17.3.44 |
|
|
24.3.44 |
Inverness |
? |
Owing to delay SALAMANDER
will now complete 7th May 1944 |
|
? |
Cromarty |
2.4.44 |
|
|
? |
Rosyth |
12.4.44 |
|
|
13.4.44 |
Tyne |
? |
|
|
24.4.44 |
Harwich |
1.5.44 |
|
|
1.5.44 |
Harwich |
13.5.44 |
|
|
14.5.44 |
Portsmouth |
9.6.44 |
|
End of
April early May 1944
HMS Salamander
arrive at
Harwich
for me and on to
Ryde, Isle of White.
Five nights a week sweeping on the Channel for D Day,
June 6 1944
Shortly before D Day pulled into Portland for a couple of days,
there a signal for me to report R TO next morning 7 am. ‘That's it
over there’ the CPO said pointing to a Submarine, I almost had a
heart attack, before I knew I was serving breakfast, lunch, tea and
Dinner on trials down under somewhere in the English Channel,
Arrived in Portland same night back to the HMS Salamander quite an
experience.
Back to sweeping again every time a little nearer until 6th
June 1944 then as far as possible and a few yards from the beach at
Arromanches Normandy. 12 midnight, wireless silence because we were
given 50/50 chance of not being sunk.
All hell was now let loose, Warships was firing their Big Guns,
Paratroopers landing Land Mines, everything going mad. It was hell.
We (7 minesweepers), pulling back 1½ miles - the shortest night not
the longest day. Day Time 6th June 1944. As there was
radio silence the minesweepers form a square and had a water polo
match as there were no orders.
The next day we started sweeping again back and forward to England
to keep the mile wide channel open for all shipping. What we saw is
nobody's belief it was horrible anyway.
Source: Alan Gould whose father Jack Gould served on Salamander |
'Neptune' was the naval operation within operation 'Overlord', the
re‑entry by the Allies into Europe via Normandy. SALAMANDER of the 1st
M/S Flotilla was attached to Force 'S'. The cutting of the approach
channels to the Normandy beaches was the largest single minesweeping
operation of any war; 89 British Fleet sweepers were among the 255
minesweepers and danlayers involved. The whole length of the Channel
south of latitude 50N to within ten miles of the French coast was
mined. Inside this there was a clear area for enemy coastal traffic
and inshore of this area it was suspected that there were ground
mines. Minesweepers had to cut two channels through the mine barrier
for each of the five Assault Forces and sweep any further mines
subsequently laid by the enemy. HDMLs fitted with sweeps preceded each
minesweeper Leader. The 1st and 15th Flotillas swept the approaches to
'Sword' Beach, the destination of Force 'S'. Prior to the approach to
the beach, the clearing, marking and lighting of the approach channels had to be achieved, regardless of the enemy's reaction. The
whole operation depended on the success of the minesweepers in
carrying out these preliminaries, after which they had to be available
to carry out their dangerous job wherever and whenever necessary. The
invasion was launched on 6 June, and by 3 July 300 mines had been
accounted for. Even so mines did cause some casualties to Allied
ships. Once Allied troops had been firmly put ashore, the minesweepers
performed whatever tasks were necessary, minesweeping or escorting.
Fortunately British ports were close by to provide back‑up and
maintenance facilities.
CLICK HERE FOR AN
ACCOUNT OF THE HALCYON'S ON D DAY
|
|
20.6.44 |
Portsmouth |
22.6.44 |
|
|
23.6.44 |
Harwich |
2.7.44 |
|
|
2.7.44 |
Southend |
3.7.44 |
|
|
|
One morning as I was watching the Paravane out of one side at the
stem, an officer was watching the other on the other side 40 foot
out. One hit a mine and up it went. The Officer and myself swimming
for our lives (thank God I could swim), it took quite a while before
we could be picked up - this at 5.30 am - because the ship was at
full speed when the Paravanes go out. When I was picked up I was in
the nude the officer had on trousers with only one leg.
Source: Alan Gould whose father Jack Gould served on
Salamander |
|
? |
Portsmouth |
8.7.44 |
|
|
? |
Portsmouth |
22.7.44 |
Intend sailing SALAMANDER
to Harwich for boiler cleaning |
|
29.7.44 |
Nore |
? |
|
|
? |
Southend |
6.8.44 |
|
|
16.8.44 |
Portsmouth |
21.8.44 |
|
After D-Day the 1st MSF's main task was keeping the swept channel
between Portsmouth and Arromanches clear of mines. On 22nd August,
operating out of the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches, they were sent
to clear a magnetic minefield off Cap d'Antifer. This was to enable
the battleship' Warspite' to get closer to the French coast to bombard
the port of Le Havre still in German hands. On being ordered back to
their previous duty after a maintenance day at Arromanches, the
Commanding Officer of HMS Jason (SO 1st MSF in the absence of the
Flotilla leader) pointed out to the staff at the minesweeping HQ that
the urgent task off Cap d'Antifer was not completed. An amending
signal, cancelling the return to the Portsmouth/Arromanches channel,
was duly made.
The 1st. Flotilla, led by HMS Jason and including the Britomart,
Hussar, SALAMANDER and the trawler 'Colsay', began their fifth day of
minesweeping on Sunday, 27th August, 1944. At about noon on 27 August
when the ships were sweeping, an RAF reconnaissance aircraft flew over
low, the pilot returning the waves from the ships' companies. Between
1330 and 1340 on this beautiful day, with the sea smooth as a duck
pond, sixteen RAF rocket-firing Typhoons, of 263 and 266 Squadrons
accompanied by a Polish squadron of Spitfires, swooped out of the sun
and attacked the Britomart. On their second attack, the SALAMANDER and
Hussar were hit. In just over 10 minutes, two ships were burning and
sinking, a third badly damaged and on fire. Men swimming in the water
were now subjected to shelling from the German shore batteries.
Hussar and Britomart were sunk and HMS
SALAMANDER so severely damaged
as to be beyond economical repair. The minesweeper Jason and the dan
laying trawler Colsay were also damaged in the attack. A total of 78
officers and ratings were killed and 149 wounded, many seriously.
Twenty two men were killed on the Britomart and fifty five on Hussar.
Survivors were later told to 'keep their mouths shut about the whole
affair'.
A court of inquiry, held at Arromanches two days later, found that
this appalling blunder was due to "an error in communications". This
regrettable episode occurred because the signal ordering the 1st MSF
to resume their task off Cap d'Antifer, rather than sweeping off
Arromanches, was not repeated to the Flag Officer British Assault
Area. Although, therefore, the reconnaissance aircraft had reported
the ships as friendly and the leader of the airborne Typhoons had
twice questioned his orders to attack, the shore staff persisted with
the strike because it was thought that enemy vessels were trying to
enter or leave Le Havre. The RAF was completely exonerated.
Source:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/maritime-2b.html
Source: National Maritime Museum: Royal Navy Historical Branch -
Ship's Histories
CLICK
HERE FOR A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE EVENTS OF 27TH AUGUST 1944
|
The last Sunday in Aug 28th 1944, seven minesweepers (inc HMS
Salamander) were sweeping in the mouth of River Somme, after lunch I
was asleep on deck in my usual afternoon spot in the sun, rattlers
wake me up I started to go up on the bridge, halfway up the first
ladder the stem is blown off the HMS Salamander. I am in the water
swimming for my life again. I was plucked from the sea by an MTB
and put aboard HMS Seagull another sweeper which by this time was
preparing to tow the Salamander to Portsmouth, arriving there in the
evening.
Source: Alan Gould whose father Jack Gould served on
Salamander
|
|
? |
Portsmouth |
25.11.44 |
|
|
? |
Southend |
27.11.44 |
In tow of Emarf Harry to
Hartlepool |
|
27.11.44 |
Harwich |
? |
|
|
1.12.44 |
Tees |
|
SALAMANDER accepted into
reserve fleet category C Feb 1st 1945 |
|
Feb 46 |
|
|
Approval has been given
for SALAMANDER to be scrapped (she
was handed over to BISCo).
|
|
7.5.47 |
|
|
Arrived at Blyth for
breaking up by Hughes Bolckow |
|
Ensign’s tragic
tale
WANDERING along the beach
of the French port of Villiers-Sur-Mer, a small boy picked up a
large tattered White Ensign that had been washed ashore and kept it
as a souvenir.
Over forty years later he
handed it in to the British Ministry of Defence, and steps were
taken to discover its origins, through the letters column of Navy
News.
Now it appears that the
full tragic story has been finally pieced together and the ensign is
from HMS Salamander, a minesweeper operating off the French coast in
1944 and mistakenly attacked and sunk by British aircraft.
Operating with two sister
ships, Britomart and Hussar, Salamander had hoisted two extra
ensigns in a vain bid to identify the group’s nationality, but the
attack claimed 86 lives and a further 124 were wounded, leaving
Salamander with her stern blown off, and the other two ships sunk.
The six foot by three foot
ensign has now found a final resting place in the Hampshire village
of Wickham, a village twinned with Villiers-Sur-Mer. Presented to
the local branch of the Royal British Legion it now occupies a
special place in the Community Centre’s special twinning display.
[Navy News 1984] |
|
