St Nazaire Raid WikipediaOperation Chariot redirects here. For the proposed construction of a harbour by nuclear weapons, see Project Chariot. The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a successful British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy and British Commandos under the auspices of Combined Operations Headquarters on 2. March 1. 94. 2. St Nazaire was targeted because the loss of its dry dock would force any large German warship in need of repairs, such as the Bismarcks sister ship Tirpitz, to return to home waters via either the English Channel or the GIUK gap, both of which were heavily defended by British units including the Royal Navys Home Fleet, rather than having a haven available on the Atlantic coast in Nazi occupied France. The obsolete destroyer. HMS Campbeltown, accompanied by 1. English Channel to the Atlantic coast of France and was rammed into the Normandie dock gates. The ship had been packed with delayed action explosives, well hidden within a steel and concrete case, that detonated later that day, putting the dock out of service for the remainder of the war and up to five years after. A force of commandos landed to destroy machinery and other structures. Heavy German gunfire sank, set ablaze, or immobilised virtually all the small craft intended to transport the commandos back to England the commandos had to fight their way out through the town to try to escape overland. Almost all were forced to surrender when their ammunition was expended and they were surrounded and captured by the Wehrmacht defending Saint Nazaire. Whatsapp Plus Cracked For Iphone. After the raid, 2. Britain 1. 69 were killed and 2. German casualties were over 3. Campbeltown exploded. To recognise their bravery, 8. Victoria Crosses. After the war, St Nazaire was one of 3. Commandos the operation has since become known as The Greatest Raid of All within military circles. BackgroundeditSt Nazaire is on the north bank of the Loire 4. British port. In 1. The St Nazaire port has an outer harbour known as the Avant Port, formed by two piers jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. This leads to two lock gates before the Bassin de St Nazaire. Critics Consensus Tron Legacy boasts dazzling visuals, but its human characters and story get lost amidst its stateoftheart production design. These gates control the water level in the basin so that it is not affected by the tide. Beyond the basin is the larger inner dock called the Bassin de Penhot, which can accommodate ships up to 1. There is also an old entrance to the Bassin de St Nazaire located southwest of the Normandie dry dock. Built to house the ocean liner. SS Normandie, this dock was the largest dry dock in the world when it was completed in 1. The Old Mole jetty juts into the Loire halfway between the southern pier of the Avant Port and the old entrance into the basin. On 2. May 1. 94. 1, the Battle of the Denmark Strait was fought between the German ships Bismarck and Prinz Eugen and the British ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Hood. Hood was sunk and the damaged Prince of Wales was forced to retire. Bismarck, also damaged, ordered her consort to proceed independently while she headed for the French port of St Nazaire, which was the only port on the Atlantic coast with a dry dock able to accommodate a ship of her size. She was intercepted by the British and sunk en route. Britains Naval Intelligence Division first proposed a commando raid on the dock in late 1. When the German battleship Tirpitz was declared operational in January 1. Royal Navy RN and Royal Air Force RAF were already drawing up plans to attack her. Planners from Combined Operations Headquarters were looking at potential scenarios if Tirpitz escaped the naval blockade and reached the Atlantic. They decided the only port able to accommodate her was St Nazaire, especially if, like the Bismarck, she was damaged en route and needed repairs. They came to the conclusion that if the dock at St Nazaire were unavailable the Germans were unlikely to risk sending Tirpitz into the Atlantic. Combined Operations examined a number of options while planning the destruction of the dock. At this stage of the war the British government still tried to avoid civilian casualties. This ruled out a bombing attack by the RAF, which at the time did not possess the accuracy needed to destroy the dock without serious loss of civilian life. The Special Operations Executive were approached to see if its agents could destroy the dock gates. They decided that the mission was beyond their capabilities because the weight of explosives required would have needed too many agents to carry them. The Royal Navy was also unable to mount an operation, as St Nazaire is 8 km 5 miles up the Loire estuary. Any naval ships large enough to cause sufficient damage would be detected well before they were within range. The planners then examined whether a commando force was feasible to accomplish the task. An unusually high spring tide was due in March 1. The approach was too shallow for an infantry landing ship, but the planners believed if a destroyer could be lightened it might have a draft shallow enough to enable it to get through. The purpose of the raid was to destroy three objectives the Normandie dock, the old gates into the Bassin de St Nazaire together with the water pumping machinery and other installations, and any U boats or other shipping in the area. The initial Combined Operations plan required one specially lightened destroyer to carry out the raid. It would be packed with explosives and rammed into the dock gates. Commandos on board would then disembark and use demolition charges to destroy nearby dock installations, searchlights and gun emplacements. The Craftmatic Legacy Todays Craftmatic Legacy adjustable beds Offer more luxury features than you will ever see in other adjustables. Legacy Model adjustable. The destroyer would then be blown up. At the same time the RAF would carry out a number of diversionary air raids in the area. Most of them failed because of heavy clouds and fog and very few bombers. The St Nazaire docks, 1. When the plan was presented to the Admiralty they refused to support it. The certain loss of one or both destroyers to eliminate the dry dock was out of the question. They suggested they could provide an old Free French destroyer, the Ouragan, and a flotilla of small motor launches to transport the commandos and evacuate them afterwards. Approval for the mission, codenamed Operation Chariot, was given on 3 March 1. Using a French ship would involve using the Free French forces and increase the number of people aware of the raid. Consequently, it was decided the navy would have to provide a ship of their own. The RAF complained that the raid would draw heavily on their resources the number of aircraft assigned by RAF Bomber Command was reduced time and time again before the day of the raid. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill further complicated matters when he ordered that bombing should only take place if targets were clearly identified. Combined Operations Headquarters worked closely with several intelligence organisations to plan the raid. The Naval Intelligence Division compiled information from a variety of sources. A detailed plan of the town of St Nazaire was provided by the Secret Intelligence Service, and information on the coastal artillery nearby was sourced from the War Offices Military Intelligence branch. The Legacy Sub' title='The Legacy Sub' />Case Communications, Specialists in highperformance industrial Rugged networking solutions. Street hardened networks for missioncritical applications.