Landing Craft Tank(Armoured) specification details

Discussion in 'General' started by GRW, Aug 5, 2008.

  1. Noel Burgess

    Noel Burgess Senior Member

    Never seen a picture of the underside but there are a few photos & movies of them being "launched" from the deck of LSTs which might help. There are larger plans here which also may help.
    Noel
     
  2. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    WOW!!! All these replies within just a few hours of posting a message. Thanks everyone, I can see that your help and support will be invaluable in the coming weeks/months. I might also mention (I'll cover it in a separate post) that I also hope to investigate 3 other wrecks which I believe may be Thames Barges also used in Operation Neptune. Thanks again everyone - i'll work through your replies in detail this evening.

    Cheers

    Alison


    T
     
  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Nice one...I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say 'Make sure you keep us updated with loads of pictures' :D

    Goodluck
    Andy
     
  4. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    Hi Phil,

    Canada - That's fantastic! and possibly useful too (?)- LCT(A)2428 was part of "J force" - and in addition to the RM Centaurs and 15 men from the 2nd RM ASG she also carried Canadian troops. I have been trying to find out some contact details for Canadian regiments involved.

    According to the loading tables for LCT(A) 2428 she also had on board -

    4 members from "HQ RCE 3 Cdn Div (Special Bulldozer Inc)" - "2 D7 Bulldozers Armd"
    14 members from "18 Cdn Fd Coy" - "Car 5Cwt 4x4"
    6 members from the "8 Kings A Coy" It also mentions "1 Truck Airborne" but is not listed as a vehicle. I have no idea what a truck airborne is???

    Please can you let me know if you know of any Canadian organisations who may be interested in the story?

    Kind regards

    Alison
     
  5. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

  6. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    Hi Drew,

    Thanks for the picture of HMT Jaunty, she is much bigger than I had imagined. I was puzzled how the tug could have picked up the 50+ people on board the LCT(A) - being 180 ft long explains it.

    Regards

    Alison
     
  7. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    ...So the tanks and bulldozers survey was picked up and discussed on this forum (?) amazing. It was interesting how the national press dealt with the story - the Telegraph was pretty much facually correct and a close resemblance to the press release I had issued (only a small picture tho :-( . The Sun had a good picture and corniest headline ("Churchill's sink tanks") and were pretty much correct in their report (surprisingly), the Express had a small para with no picture but the Daily Mail were on another planet! They used some good images but that's where any bearing to the press release stopped! The wrecks had been known about since the 1970s and were occasionally dived by local divers. However we were the first to bother with a survey and identification. We certainly weren't stumbling around in the English Channel!

    Should I provide some more details about what we found on that thread?

    Regards

    Alison
     
  8. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Should I provide some more details about what we found on that thread?
    Yes please - always nice to get some stuff from the chaps on the ground... or under the water.
     
  9. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Yes please - always nice to get some stuff from the chaps on the ground... or under the water.

    ...and ladies as well of course Adam !;)

    I liked the quote from the BSAC's spokesperson - “It’s a great story. It has war, history, drama, human interest, big mechanical stuff, investigation, puzzle-solving and, of course, scuba diving. Lots of it.”

    I can go along with that, love the 'big mechanical stuff' bit but will leave the sub-aqua to others.:)
     
  10. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    I now consider 'chap' a unisex term, I think it's Diane that's done it - definitely one of 'the chaps', and the feminine 'chapette' just doesn't suit her :D.
     
  11. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    Alison, have you had a look at the 'Maple Leaf Up' site ?

    MLU FORUM - Powered by vBulletin

    No better source for Canadian establishments that I know of.

    Thanks Rich, I have just registered on the MLU site and will post an appeal for information later today. Who knows - I may be lucky in finding someone who was onboard.

    Regards

    Ali
     
  12. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    Never seen a picture of the underside but there are a few photos & movies of them being "launched" from the deck of LSTs which might help. There are larger plans here which also may help.
    Noel

    Thanks Noel, I have studied this site in detail and it was the picture of the LCT being loaded onto an LST that was one of the vital clues that helped in fitting the whole puzzle together. When we did the initial dive we discovered a large 'kedge' anchor tucked under one of the tanks. Until that point because there was no shipwreck, the fairly firm speculation (as evidenced by the book 'Dive Sussex') was that these military vehicles had slipped from a section of Whale Bridge which is laying relatively close by. The fact that the anchor was lying with the tank was enough for me to be sure a ship was involved - and I just couldn't imagine, even in those desperate times, that they work risk transporting such valuable equipment on a floating piece of road. The anchor in the picture looks exactly like the one at the dive site.

    Tony Chapman and others from the Landing Craft Association have been marvellous in their support to date, but some specific information which will help confirm the wreck to be an LCT(A) - or even 2428, is still needed to make positive identification of a rusty, upturned hulk of metal!

    I've been very lucky/fortunate so far - it would have been a different story if they were the Sherman tanks that everyone told me they would be. David Fletcher from the Tank Museum was very pleasantly surprised!

    Thanks for your interest/assistance.

    Rgds

    Alison
     
  13. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    Hello everyone, I've only recently joined but as the Tanks & Bulldozers survey project leader I have been asked to let you know a little more about what we found at the site and also the results of the histirical research we did. We were certainly not 'treasure hunting' in the English Channel nor did we 'stumble' accross the tanks - this is relatively well known dive site it's just that no one had investigated the tanks to try to identify them. As there is no ship wreck nearby, the long held belief was that they had slipped from a section of Mulberry Whale bridge (which is only a few hundred metres away). I never really thought this a feasible conclusion to draw and after our initial dive I was convinced this was not the right reason behind their sinking. There was a huge kedge anchor tucked under one of the tanks which must have sunk to the sea bed in the same incident.

    I'll let you know more in some follow-on posts (when I get back from work!) and try to let you see some images from the week. By the way it the project will be covered in the first episode of BBC Coast which is due to be broadcast in July (I think).

    Regards

    Alison
     
    von Poop likes this.
  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Hello everyone, I've only recently joined but as the Tanks & Bulldozers survey project leader I have been asked to let you know a little more about what we found at the site and also the results of the histirical research we did. We were certainly not 'treasure hunting' in the English Channel nor did we 'stumble' accross the tanks - this is relatively well known dive site it's just that no one had investigated the tanks to try to identify them. As there is no ship wreck nearby, the long held belief was that they had slipped from a section of Mulberry Whale bridge (which is only a few hundred metres away). I never really thought this a feasible conclusion to draw and after our initial dive I was convinced this was not the right reason behind their sinking. There was a huge kedge anchor tucked under one of the tanks which must have sunk to the sea bed in the same incident.

    I'll let you know more in some follow-on posts (when I get back from work!) and try to let you see some images from the week. By the way it the project will be covered in the first episode of BBC Coast which is due to be broadcast in July (I think).

    Regards

    Alison

    Hi Alison,

    Are they doing a 4th Series? I already have the first three- all enjoyable and atleast every other show has a WW2 story :)

    Cheers
    Andy
     
  15. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    Hi Alison,

    Are they doing a 4th Series? I already have the first three- all enjoyable and atleast every other show has a WW2 story :)

    Cheers
    Andy

    Hi Andy,

    Sorry I'm still getting used to this forum stuff - I thought I had posted this on the Centaur tank thread - obviously not!

    Yes the BBC are doing another series - it's at the final edit stage. David the producer and a cameraman came out with us on the first day of the survey - as if I didn't have enough to think/worry about. I had to organise a RIB for these guys so they could film our dive boat leaving Langstone Harbour!. My partner Martin did all the underwater video for them so they just did the top shots. That meant I got to play with Martin's posh underwater camera which was fun.

    If I can work out how to get some pictures on the forum I'll share them with you all. Anything in particular? I know many of you would like to see the tanks, but the bulldozers were awesome! To my knowledge there is only one other Armoured D7 left (in private hands - unless you guys know different of course????.

    I hope they got my good side!

    Regards

    Ali
     
  16. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    By the way, we have arranged to put on a display about the Tanks & Bulldozers project at the D Day museum in Portsmouth on the weekend 6th/7th June. If any of you 'chaps' are around it would be good to say hello.

    I believe it's free entry on 6th June.

    Regards
     
  17. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    I've just merged the older thread about the tanks & bulldozers into this one, seems daft to have them separated.
    There's a guide to uploading pictures here Ali:
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/network-information/12816-how-insert-pictures-into-your-posts.html,
    I'm sure we'd love to see more!

    Seen a fair few D7s, but as far as I recall not one Armoured one - just too useful a vehicle not to have been de-armoured and worked to death post-war.
    Have there been any mentions of recovering the vehicles? Real centaurs not exactly being common either.
     
  18. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    On my regular Wednesday morning meeting at the RBL, today I spoke with Syd a Royal Navy Veteran and said that he would be interested to read our forum threads especially the Naval questions.

    I happened to mention this thread about the LCT being researched and he told me that he had sailed an LST from America to Normandy encountering a violent storm in Mid Atlantic.

    He said that it was the worst voyage of his 7 year Naval Career! One day being at the wheel during the storm for over 6 hours due to lack of trained personnel on board.

    Being flat bottomed was not ideal for travelling across an ocean in a storm!

    I have just had a look at Syds record and it shows him on LST 162
    18th Feb 1943 to 16th July 1944.




    Regards
    Tom
     
  19. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

  20. Ali Mayor

    Ali Mayor Member

    LST 162

    LST-162

    Tank Landing Ship LST

    Tank landing ship HMS LST 162 of the LST class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net

    It appears that Syd really got about.

    Regards
    Tom

    Thanks Tom,

    It's fascinating to hear these accounts of being at sea in these craft and ships.

    I launched this year's project with a presentation to members of our dive club and a few special guests last night. Everyone is really enthusiastic and keen to help find the wreck and help also with the research. So you may be hearing requests from other members of Southsea Sub-Aqua club by various means. Althought finding LCT(A) 2428 is still the primary focus for this year's diving project we will also be looking at up to 3 Thames Barges (Dumb Lighters) which are fairly closeby. Again another important but little known about contribution to Operation Neptune.

    I will be getting our web site updated with details and hope to write a press release this weekend. Don't worry I haven't forgotten about some more detail for this forum - and images too.

    Ali
     

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