On 5th May 1942 during Operation Ironclad, whilst landing 29th Brigade on Red Beach South, west of Diego Suarez, one landing craft is noted as being lost after running aground in Courrier Bay. Book 'Churchill's secret invasion' says that an 'LCA' was lost, but the only identified loss for this date is LCM46, which is noted by 'British and Empire Warships' as "capsized East Indies 5/5/42". I know that the ADM210 (Green List) records of landing craft only begin in August 1942, so does anybody know if there is a list of landing craft assignments to cover dates before this? I'm trying to see if LCM46 (or MLC46 for its correct designation on this date!) was assigned to one of the landing ships (HMS Winchester Castle, HMS Royal Ulsterman, HMS Keren, HMS Karanja and Sobieski, plus RFA Derwentdale) taking part in the operation. Any ideas? Regards, Steve
I went thru this document and didn’t find any reference to LCA or LCM losses?? https://www.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Battle_Summary_No_15_and_16.pdf Summary of Naval Action No 16 starts on Page 29 of the document above Maps from the above document
You may some reading to do in order to answer your question, and that possibly needs to start with The National Archives Possible useful file Operation `Ironclad': diaries and reports | The National Archives But there are 269 files on Operation Ironclad so sifting through those may throw up some relevant files Search results: operation ironclad | The National Archives British naval vessels lost at sea in World War 2 - La Combattante to Myrtle LCM No.46 (30-37t) capsized and sank, E. Indies, May 5, 1942
Thanks for that, yes I'm slowly working my way through the ADM199 series, amongst others, ADM199/937 was on my (too long) list of documents to look up. Regards, Steve
Well I've gone through the various Operation Ironclad reports contained within ADM199/937, but there is no mention of any landing craft losses. However from my experience of researching Operation Jubilee, the lack of a mention this doesn't actually confirm that there were not losses, as the losses of landing craft were often poorly recorded, especially as seems to be the case on this date when there were no casualties. There are mentions of landing craft operations being halted/moved due to poor sea conditions, so I wouldn't rule out a loss occurring... The search goes on. Regards, Steve
