USS Buchanan (DD-131) - Saint-Nazaire Raid

Saint-Nazaire Raid

In 1942, the German battleship Tirpitz anchored at Trondheim in Norway was considered to present a grave threat to Atlantic convoys. However, should the ship enter the Atlantic then the dry dock originally built for the liner SS Normandie in the German-occupied port of Saint-Nazaire, France, was the only one in German hands on the Atlantic seaboard large enough to hold her. It was considered that if this dock could be put out of action, then a sortie by the Tirpitz into the Atlantic would be much more dangerous for her, and probably not worth the risk. The obsolete Campbeltown was selected for the task, and cosmetic modifications quickly done to make her look similar to a German Möwe class destroyer.

Using genuine German recognition signals, the force approached to within less than a mile of the harbour before they were fired upon, Campbeltown as the largest target drawing most of the fire. At 01:34 on 28 March 1942, Campbeltown rammed the dock gate 4 minutes later than planned. Troops and crew came ashore under heavy German fire and set about demolishing the dock machinery. 169 of the raiders were killed (64 commandos and 105 sailors) out of the 611 men in the attacking force. Of the survivors, 215 were captured and 222 were evacuated by the surviving small craft. A further five evaded capture and travelled overland through France to Spain and then to Gibraltar.

The charges in Campbeltown exploded the next day, 28 March, an hour and a half after the latest time that the British had expected them to detonate. Although the ship had been searched by the Germans, the explosives had not been detected. The explosion killed around 250 German soldiers and French civilians and demolished both the front half of the ship and the 160 ton caisson, the inrush of water into the dock washing the remains of the ship into it. The dock was rendered unusable for the rest of the war, and was not repaired until 1947.