OPERATION TUNNEL-Oct. 1943

[aurora]

The British authorities were aware of the approach of the German blockade runner in, Münsterland in October 1943, which was carrying an important cargo of latex and strategic metals. The Germans had a well-rehearsed procedure for escorting such vessels. The British reacted by executing Operation Tunnel, a standard operation whereby available ships would attempt to intercept.HMS Charybdis was assigned to the operation on 20 October, and on 22 October the British force put to sea. With Charybdis were the fleet destroyers HMS Grenville and Rocket and four Hunt-class destroyers; Limbourne, Wensleydale, Talybont and Stevenstone. The Münsterland '​s escorts consisted of five Elbing-class torpedo boats, comprising the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, commanded by Franz Kohlauf.

Charybdis was hit on the port side by two torpedoes fired by the German torpedo boats T-23, under the command of Friedrich-Karl Paul, and T-27. HMS Limbourne was also hit during this action and was later scuttled by HMS Rocket. The German force escaped unharmed. Charybdis sank within half an hour, in position 48°59′N
3°39′WCoordinates: 48°59′N 3°39′W, with the loss of over 400 men. Four officers and 103 ratings survived. The Münsterland was eventually forced ashore and destroyed west of Cap Blanc Nez by fire from British coastal artillery, on 21 January 1944.

For b Battle Summary see link
http://www.naval-history.net/WW2Ships-CharybdisAsr.htm

[Dave Saxton]

Kolauf was one of KM's best destroyer commanders. This KM victory was set up by their use of shore based radar. The Seetakt radar had an effective IFF system so that the ship and shore based radar plot could keep track of their own warships relative to radar contacts from the enemy warships. The shore based radar detected the British units in plenty of time for them to direct Kolauf to a favorable attack position.

Kolauf carried out the ambush well. He first picked up the approach of the British battle group with passive GHG sonar from the North East. Switching on his radars he soon had a good situational awareness, and began to direct his command over the radio telephone for torpedo attack. He assumed that the British also had him on radar and he did not possess the element of surprize. In fact he did.

Voelcker had ordered all the British radars switched off except for the 10cm surface search sets, but Kolauf positioned his ships within a heavy rain squall which probably caused weather attenuation. When Charybdis reported radar contacts Kolauf was already launching torpedoes. Kolauf had intercepted confused British TBS transmissions and decided to attack as soon as possible.

When the remaining British destroyers returned to pickup survivers, an hour later, and to scuttle the Limborne, Kolauf monitored the operations on his radar but decided to not interfere with rescue operations.

[aurora]

Excellent reportage Dave-you have put a lot of flesh on the bare bones of my intro-thanks-this first Tunnel operation was a nasty smack in the face for the British Coastal Force; but I am certain we did learn from the mistakes by honing our tactics in later showdowns.
The CinC Plymouth singled out the failure of the ships of Force 28 to exchange radar and intercept information during the approach,and the action of light cruiser Charybidis
in closing the enemy end on,in view of the torpedo menace-as noteworthy mistakes.He also commented on the German tactics-"By their masterly use of tactics in the face of a superior force they reduced it to equality and threw this force into confusion-thereby achieving their objective-without firing a gun"

[aurora]

Following the Charybidis debacle of 22 October-the Munsterland continued to ply her trade-seemingly untouchable-however the "Munsterland" met with a net-barrier, which had been put up outside the harbour entrance. Her propeller was fouled by the nets; and it was impossible to manoeuvre her, she drifted towards Cap Gris Nez and was towed back to Boulogne. In order to free the propeller from the nets, the forward tanks were filled, to raise the ship's stern and facilitate work on the propeller. After the "Munsterland" was put in order, it was prepared to leave again.

The convoy of ships included mine-sweepers, mine detector vessels, reconnaissance ships and converted ferry-boats. One vessel which was a mine-sweeper was in position astern of the "Munsterland".Once within range of Wanstone Battery on the West Sussex coast- firing commenced and the shooting was fairly accurate,and ultimately registered the first hit. The "Munsterland" was hit several times after steaming into a salvo of shells falling in front of her. The fire was so well directed that other vessels were unable to reach the "Munsterland". Those shells which fell into the sea exploded on the bottom and had no splinter effect; but a considerable amount of mud rained down on the decks. The "Munsterland" began to sink, but still remained with the upper-structure above water. Some of the crew were killed in the icy waters through heart-failure on account of plunging too quickly into the sea. After having taken off all the people, we made for Calais at full speed.

[aurora]

On 26 April 1944 an action took place occurred as a part of Operation Tunnel, allied destroyer sweeps of the coast of Brittany in preparation for Operation Overlord. On the night of 25–26 April a sweep was conducted off the Ile de Batz by the Dido-class cruiser HMS Black Prince and the 10th DF Tribal-class destroyers HMS Ashanti, HMCS Athabaskan, HMCS Haida and HMCS Huron.

They engaged the Elbing-class torpedo boats T-24, T-27 and T-29 off the Ile de Batz until T-29 was destroyed. Both of the other torpedo boats were damaged in the engagement. T29 caused some casualties on Haida and Huron before sinking with a loss of 135 men. Haida and Ashanti collided with each other near the end of the action.

[aurora]

Further to the above HMCS Athabaskan,a 10th DF Tribal destroyer, was lost in the English Channel the night of 29 April 1944. She was torpedoed by the German torpedo boat T-24. Her commanding officer — Lieutenant Commander John Stubbs DSO RCN— was killed in action after declining rescue by HMCS Haida to swim back for more crew members. 128 crew lost their lives in the sinking.In 2004, the Canadian Navy provided a brass plaque to be laid on the wreck to commemorate the loss. The expedition found more information about the sinking but did not clarify the actual cause. The wreck is in a shattered condition spread over the sea bed.

There does exist some speculation that Athabaskan was in fact lost to a "friendly fire incident" after being accidentally torpedoed by a British motor torpedo boat, or that she suffered some sort of catastrophic internal explosion in number one boiler room. However, due to the poor condition of the wreck after some 60 or so years of lying in strong currents, as well as the poor record-keeping and incomplete logs of other ships in the area at the time of her sinking, neither of these theories have yet. been confirmed.

[aurora]

The Battle of Brittany, occurred on the early morning of 9 June 1944 and was an engagement between a German destroyer flotilla (Kranke), and an Allied destroyer flotilla (Jones) off the coast of Brittany. The action came shortly after the initial Allied landings in Normandy. After a confused engagement during the night the Allies sank one of the destroyers and forced another ashore, where she was wrecked.
Interim
On 6 June 1944, the day of the first landings in Normandy, the remnants of the German 8th destroyer flotilla, consisting of the Type 36A Z24 and Z32, and the ZH1, were ordered by Vizeadmiral Theodor Krancke to sail from the Gironde to Brest. They then put to sea again on 8 June in company with T24, the sole survivor of the 4th torpedo boat flotilla, bound for Cherbourg under the command of Theodor von Bechtolsheim, where they would reinforce German positions.

The British flotilla were moving westward down the Channel when the German ships were detected by radar just after 01:00 on 9 June. Jones turned his force to meet the Germans, who were by now 30 miles east-northeast of the Ile de Batz. The two flotillas clashed intermittently thereafter, exchanging gunfire and salvoes of torpedoes. Tartar was struck several times, but was able to put out fires and restore her speed. ZH1 was then engaged by both Tartar (Jones) and Ashanti, with Ashanti launching two torpedoes at point-blank range. One struck ZH1, blowing off her bows. With the ship crippled, her captain, Klaus Barckow gave the order to abandon ship, then scuttled her with depth charges at 02:40. Barckow was among the 39 killed. Twenty-eight managed to reach France, the remaining 140 were picked up by the British. Haida and Huron had meanwhile been pursuing Z24 and T24 until the German ships ran into a British minefield. The Canadians attempted to detour around it, but eventually lost the Germans. Z24 and T24 regrouped, with the intention of returning to engage the British, but finding they were not being followed, they left the area. Haida and Huron returned to the scene and came across von Bechtolsheim's Z32, which had received a heavy pounding and lost contact with the rest of the Germans. There was some confusion over establishing each other's identity, but when the Canadians discovered she was a German ship they opened fire. Von Bechtolsheim fled at high speed, but Z32,having sustained heavy damage, was driven ashore on the Ile de Batz and wrecked.

[aurora]

Action Off Ushant June 9th 1944

On the evening of Thursday 8th Coastal Command ( RAF ) reported four German destroyers steaming up from Brest for Cherbourg bent on interfering with the supply route to Normandy from England.

The eight ships of the flotilla left Plymouth at full speed to engage them. It was completely dark as we took up our respective position in “line ahead” behind Tartar quickly working up to our full speed of well over 30 knots soon after leaving Plymouth. It was cold and apart from the gunners the Oerlikon crew sought shelter behind a canvas shield as protection against the wind raised by our speed.

The enemy was sighted just before dawn and our ships turned towards them, avoiding their torpedoes. In the course of the action, at times conducted at point blank range, HMS Tartar, our leader, passed through the enemy’s line. One enemy destroyer was torpedoed and blew up, a second was driven ashore in flames, and two others escaped after receiving damage by gunfire. Tartar suffered casualties and damage. Four men were killed by a direct hit on the control tower but she remained in action and returned safely to harbour.