The men numbered apart from the escorts, 611 souls - 345 naval officers and ratings, 166 all ranks in the fighting parties from 2 Commando, 91 all ranks in the demolition teams of the combined Commandos, together with the medical party, 3 liaison officers and two Press representatives.

‘All troops embarked’, the force was ready to leave. The MLs sailed first, to be followed at 2 o’clock by the three destroyers. The MLs of the port column had to sail with no one in command, because Lieutenant-Commander Woods, who should have been in charge had gone off sick just before sailing. Lieutenant Platt was transferred to Woods boat, and his place on MK 443 was taken by CO, Lieutenant Horlock, RNVR.

Looking Out at Sea

Off ‘D’ buoy, the elements of the force formed into a modified version of Ryder’s Night Cruising Order, in three parallel columns with the destroyers in line, flanked either side by the MLs. Atherstone, with Ryder and Newman on board and the gunboat in tow, led the force. Tynedale was next in line, followed by Campbeltown with the MTB in tow. For the first time as a single unit, the twenty-one vessels set off on the first leg of this outward track, sailing a south-westerly course towards Position ‘A’ at 13 knots.

The weather could not have been kinder, with a warm spring sun and light easterlies breathing a fine haze over the lazy swell of the sea. Sailing steadily towards the open sea, the force changed formation into Cruising Order No 1, which was their simulation of an anti-submarine sweep.

On Atherstone’s signal, the longitudinal column to port and starboard of the destroyers opened out from the rear until they were in the form of a broad, open arrowhead, four cables behind the tip of which steamed Atherstone. In the open spaces to the rear each ‘wing’ steamed Campbeltown, still with the MTB in tow, and Tynedale.

Their sealed orders were opened once clear of land and the reactions of the officers to the revelation of their target’s identity had been that this was a port into which no one would really wish to sail without the benefit of armour plate and heavy guns.

At 1911 hours on the evening of the 26 March 1942 the fleet reached position ‘A’ and set off on the second leg that was to take them deep into the Bay of Biscay, before beginning the final run to the Loire. The fleet having maintained its anti-submarine pretence throughout the daylight hours, now adopted its Night Cruising Order of parallel columns of MLs stationed either side of the three destroyers.

At around 2300 hours they reached point ‘B’ and changed course slightly to east of south, aiming for the place at which they would begin their slow turn towards the hostile coast. At 0700 hours the fleet resumed its simulation of an anti-submarine sweep. Passing through ‘C’ position, a turn to port was made, with the new course 112 degrees carrying them towards the coast of France.



A matter of minutes later Tynedale spotted a distant object on a bearing 037 degrees, at a range of seven miles. Reporting to Ryder on Atherstone, immediately ordered her to close up on the object and identify. Tynedale, detaching herself from the force, went off towards the north-east at speed of about 27 knots. With eyes trained, it was quickly identified as a surfaced U-boat, making for the French coast- at an estimated speed of 12 knots.

The last thing Ryder needed was for the U-boat to get off a sighting report and initiate a response from the German Navy or Luftwaffe. It was important to sink her or at the very least force her to dive before she could radio their identity to the shore. Slipping the gunboats tow at 0736 hours, Ryder order Atherstone to join the hunt, leaving Beattie in charge of the remaining boats. Atherstone was accompanied by the two spare Fairmiles - ML 298 and ML 446.

Going towards the U-boat’s position, Ryder could now see two fishing boats were in the immediate area. Atherstone was instructed to make for them instead, and Tynedale to deal with the U-boat. The problem with fishing boats, of which there were all too many off the Biscay coast, was that the odd one might be carrying a radio and German observer.

At 0745 hours, when the range was 5600 yards, Tyndale ran up the White Ensign and fired at the U-boat. Swinging some 25 degrees to starboard to open her guns’ arc of fire, a further two salvoes were fired, the last shells splashing right on the position where U 593 had crash-dived. At 0930 hours the search was broken off and Tynedale and Atherstone set course for the south-west just in case they had been observed, aiming to return to the main force by a circuitous route. There was always the possibility that the U-boat might have got off a signal, in which case the Luftwaffe could be expected.

By 1100 hours all was in order, the fleet resumed it progress eastwards. The force now found itself running towards a cluster of fishing vessels far too great in number to be dealt with by boarding or sinking. It was decided to board two vessels that stood apart from the rest. At 1135 Tynedale was ordered to investigate. The two boats were sunk, and the ‘guests’ transferred to the destroyers.

Passing through position ‘D‘, Ryder brought the ships round a little more to the east, a course south of east which hoped would convey to hostile observers an intention of making for La Rochelle. A signal received at 1240 confirmed Schmidt’s destroyers had been active and were on the move to Nantes, a mere thirty miles upstream of St Nazaire. Ryder knew of the existence of these ships, and their possible impact on the raid.

At 2000 hours, with darkness falling, the force reached and stopped at position ‘E’, the stage of the journey where the ships began their run staight to the target. In a little more than 65 miles and just a few hours they would be going right through the front door of a stronghold the enemy believed to be immune from attack.

One more check point at point ‘Z’, they were to make contact with Lieutenant-Commander Mervyn Wingfield, RN, the ‘S-class’ boat (submarine) Sturgeon, acting as a navigational beacon from which Green could pin-point chart position for the last run. In a place a mere 40 sea miles from the target, Wingfield had taken great care to fix his position by means of bearings taken through the periscope. He had surfaced to the point where only his conning tower was visible. At 2200 hours, Sturgeon’s light flashed, intermittently flashing the letter ‘M’, out of the distant darkness, directly ahead of the force and exactly where Green had predicted it would be. Trimmed heavy, so that she could quickly dive, Sturgeon would be almost invisible to enemy radar.

For Tweedie in Tynedale, and Jenks in Atherstone, this was the point at which they would break away to establish a patrol-line across the course the surviving MLs were expected to follow as they made for rendezvous position ‘T’. The loss of their guns left the fleet highly vulnerable to Schmidt’s destroyers should these vessels be met between this position and the estuary proper.

Ar 2300 hours, with Sturgeon an already fading memory, with nerves beginning to stretch tight and blood to run a little colder in the veins, the men prepared to take up their attack positions.

BACK