Identification of ships help please. Normandy 44 & Norway 45

Hi,
Can anyone help identify the ship that was titled MT25 / MT36 in June 1944.
MT 25 sailed from Southend on the 5th June.

Also in the war diary of a RE unit my Grandfather served in on D-Day, it mentions the OC his Sec sailed to Normany on HMS Eagle, but this does not seem to be correct as no HMS Eagle was at Normandy as far as I can find.
By all accounts Naval party 1502 and 10 Gn HQ advanced party was also on this ship as they landed east of Port en Bessin.
It also states in the diary that 'HMS Eagle' tried to come into Port En Bessin, but was fired upon from enemy guns on the cliff.
I think that once 47 Royal Marine Commando had captured the cliff they managed to sail into the harbour on smaller craft.

Also my Grandfather later went on into Norway to liberate them from German occupation. He sailed from Hamburg on an American LST 519. LST 519 also served at Normandy and later renamed Calhoun County. Decommissioned in Nov 1962 after recieving 2 battle stars for WW2 service.

He later left Norway for England on EMPIRE DIRK, which I presume is a merchant vessel.

Interested in any info on MT25 / 36, HMS Eagle (or what this ship should have been); LST 519 that took the British Liberation Army to Norway and Empire Dirk that brought him back home.

Many thanks,
Alan

 

HMS Eagle you mentioned could be HMS Golden Eagle

Donald continued: “I saw 6,000 ships along the Normandy beaches and I saw this particular ship. I had never seen a ship like it before, and I asked the signalman, ‘what is that ship out there?’. He said it was called the ‘Golden Eagle’, and I told him my brother’s on that ship, a few hundred yards away!


“The reason I had asked about that ship, in particular, is because there was a bulge on the side of it, and I had never seen anything like that before. I was told it was a paddle ship on the side.


A remarkable D-Day story from a Normandy veteran - Local Headlines - Stornoway Gazette

Thread about that ship on this forum

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-sea/29330-special-service-vessel-golden-eagle-dunkirk.html

 

I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to identify the various merchant operated ships on D day and D + 1. Information is very patchy. I can offer the following snippets.

MT25 and MT36 will be Motor Transport Coasters which took vehicles across to Normandy in the follow up convoys. These were all standard built N3-S-A1 class. It has not yet been possible to match the serial numbers in the Landing Tables to the individual ships. All this class were named after US merchant ship captains.

The convoys of Force L were the follow up and were loaded at London and other East Coast ports. I have not yet positively found any from Southend but any suitable port, harbour and dock was used.

Naval Party 1502A was to prepare Port en Bessin for use. 1502B and 1502C were destined for Courseulles and Ouistreham. These were late additions and do not appear on the Landing Tables I have.

HMS Eagle does not ring a bell in this context.

Do you know what RE unit your Grandfather was with. This will probably appear on the tables.

Interestingly my father went to Norway at the end of the war. His RAF High Speed Rescue Launch escorted the convoy taking King Haakon back and then stayed there to patrol the fjords.

Mike

 

MT 25 was the George W Eliot and MT 36 was the Fort Dearborn.

Trux, you sound like you don't have the list I found in a file at Kew.

 

Interested in any info on MT25 / 36, HMS Eagle (or what this ship should have been); LST 519 that took the British Liberation Army to Norway and Empire Dirk that brought him back home.

Many thanks,
Alan

Hi Alan,

Are you sure it was LST 519, as that served in the Asian-Pacific theatre.

See link below.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/26/2605.htm

I also went looking for MT's and LST's which transported my Dad's Regt to Normandy and came up trumps.

Cheers - Rob

 

A copy of the page with MT numbers. MT2 is mentioned in the war diary of 92 LAA, which also sailed from Southend and was sunk. It was of course the Sambut.

 

Alan,

A short film of the inside of a surviving LST. Apart from the annoying music, quite interesting to see what it looks like.

If you are into the engine of this craft, then enjoy.

Cheers - Rob.

YouTube - ‪LST{Landing Ship Tank} 393 Tour Muskegon Michigan.‬‏

 

That's great Ramacal.

Getting there slowly. I see that both Motor Transport Coasters and Motor Transport Ships are listed. The latter were rare on D Day and D+1.

I hope I have attached pictures.

Mike

 

Mike

Another page for you. Unfortunately I can't remember which file at Kew it came from. I will dig back through my records.

Cheers - Rob

 

Another step forward. I guess that the coasters with persons names are the N3-S-A1. Somewhere there will be a list linking these names and numbers to the serials on the Landing Tables.

I have several lists of ships and their capacity and probable use. Also lists of docks and wharves available. These may make sense one day.

Mike

 

There are a few photos of Brigade Prion (Belgians) on MT ship/coaster(s) on this webpage: Creation of the Piron Brigade - at the bottom of the page.
I hope they wont mind me posting one of their pictures which gives an indication of what these ships looked like.

Noel

 

I have a poor quality copy of a document which did not make sense to me until now.

Tilbury pre loaders. 10th May. Bigot. Tp Secret.
First flight of nine ships will complete loading on 30th May and anchor in the river.
Second flight of nine ships will complete loading on 28th May and anchor at Gravesend, Greenhithe and Hope.
These two flights will embark personnel in the river.
Third Flight of seven ships will embark personnel at the berth on Y Day.

All three flights will sail from Southend in convoy ??? (illegible).

Added note. Put back all loading times by 96 hours.

 

Hi,
Can anyone help identify the ship that was titled MT25 / MT36 in June 1944.
MT 25 sailed from Southend on the 5th June.

Also in the war diary of a RE unit my Grandfather served in on D-Day, it mentions the OC his Sec sailed to Normany on HMS Eagle, but this does not seem to be correct as no HMS Eagle was at Normandy as far as I can find.
By all accounts Naval party 1502 and 10 Gn HQ advanced party was also on this ship as they landed east of Port en Bessin.
It also states in the diary that 'HMS Eagle' tried to come into Port En Bessin, but was fired upon from enemy guns on the cliff.
I think that once 47 Royal Marine Commando had captured the cliff they managed to sail into the harbour on smaller craft.

Also my Grandfather later went on into Norway to liberate them from German occupation. He sailed from Hamburg on an American LST 519. LST 519 also served at Normandy and later renamed Calhoun County. Decommissioned in Nov 1962 after recieving 2 battle stars for WW2 service.

He later left Norway for England on EMPIRE DIRK, which I presume is a merchant vessel.

Interested in any info on MT25 / 36, HMS Eagle (or what this ship should have been); LST 519 that took the British Liberation Army to Norway and Empire Dirk that brought him back home.

Many thanks,
Alan
Not to degrade your grandfather's efforts during the war but Norway was not liberated by the British. The Germans surrendered officially to the Norwegian Resistance leader Terje Rollem on May 11th. Attached is photo of the event. It took place at Akershus Fortress in Oslo. More than 300.000 German troops laid down their weapons to the Norwegian Resistance (approx. 40.000 men) and Norwegian troops (approx. 20.000 men - Police Troops, see below) coming in from Sweden

Before that Norwegian troops from the Norwegian Brigade in Scotland and so-called Police Troops from a Norwegian contingent in Sweden had fought the Germans in Northern Norway since late Fall '44. They took over from the Russians after these had driven the Germans out of Kirkenes.

 

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the scanned lists and this is most interesting. I think I found a picture of MT36 at Google Image Result for http://www.maritimequest.com/freighters/01_photos/f/fort_dearborn_1943/fort_dearborn_b_david_buell.jpg
Unfortunately noting found on MT25.
Ref US LST 519, this is taken directly from my Grandfathers secion war diary. According to this, they embarked on LST 519 in Hamburg on the 30th May 45 and anchored off Brunsnuttel on the 31st May for 2 days. They arrived in Oslo on the 4th June after a rough crossing as part of Operation Apostle. I found that same site you ref, but can only go via the war diary !

Mike, Grandfather was a Spr in 226 section, 25th Bomb Disposal Coy, RE, under a Lt. K.E. Curry.
Anything you has associated with his section is most welcome.

The Utube clip is very good at giving me a size and shape of the types of ships.

Many thanks both.
Rgds,
Alan

 

Attached three N3-S-A1s (Jeeps) discharging at Normandy - sitting ducks!

Roy

 

How did they get the vehicles off the coasters ? Was it by ships cranes ? These ships don't seem to have the front doors and ramps as in the utupe clip ?

 

Unloading MT Coasters and Ships.

The MT Coasters and Ships were standard cargo vessels and did not have ramps. The first waves carried 28 men from a Port Operating Company who unloaded vehicles into other craft. The men then remained to unload later arrivals. The three N3s in the photo are carrying stores not vehicles. These did beach and unload cargo into DUKWs or trucks.

Vehicles were lifted out of the hold by the ships cranes. They were then lowered into LCMs, powered barges, LCTs and Rhino Ferries as available. Some were unloaded by lifting vehicles onto the deck of LSTs. The vehicles were then taken to shore and landed via the front ramp after the LST had beached and dried out.

Mike

 

Hi Mike, Thanks for the explanation. What a huge effort this sounds.

Did you manage to find anything on 226 Sec, 25th BD Coy at Tilbury ?
Regds,
Alan

 

Not yet Alan.

The Landing Tables are 1000 closely typed pages. This only covers D Day and D+1. A search may take some time.

As you say ' A huge effort'. There were many more lists and tables, plans and orders.

Apart from the 25 MT ships loading at Tilbury there were more than 50 coasters loaded with stores, mainly ammunition. Also ships loading at the various London Docks.

Mike

 

There is a document showing the exact location of every ship, boat, etc, that took part in the D day landings. I have it here in my house somewhere.