Operation Chariot

The Rotary Club of St Andrews recent on line meeting was enthralled by Hamish Tait’s very factual account of the British Naval and Commando raid on the heavily defended port of St Nazaire during the Second World War.

The threat from the huge German battle ship, The Tirpitz, to allied shipping bringing essential supplies across the Atlantic was so significant, that daring plans were drawn up to severely damage the only port on the Atlantic which could house this enormous ship.

Hamish explained how after ruling out several options it was decided to find a way to destroy the port gates and much of the infrastructure around it in a combined naval and commando action.

Operation Chariot, as it was named, would require a ship to be filled with explosive, find a way past the extensive defences, to ram the gates and on a delayed time basis explode, causing irreparable damage.

A ship, HMS Cambeltown, previously a ship of the US Navy was altered to suit the operation, including making it look as much like a German ship as possible. An approach to the port was found which crossed shallow sand banks allowing the ship and a fleet of small support fast boats to get within a mile of the gates before the huge German defences opened up.

Despite this, the ship rammed the gates and in fact went 32ft beyond allowing commandos from her and the support vessels to attack other parts of the infrastructure with much success. However eventually many naval personnel and commandos were captured including the Captain of the Cambeltown. He however had the satisfaction of hearing the enormous explosion when the delayed action device triggered and this key to the whole dockyard was destroyed to the point that it was never repaired until after the war, meaning the Tirpitz was confined to the area around Norway and no threat to Atlantic convoys.

Hamish added his personal connection to the account, that his father had in fact been second in command of one of the fleet of support vessels and made it safely back to England. Like many other war veterans, he rarely talked about his role, in what was one of the most daring and successful actions of the war.

Sylvia Donaldson provided a fitting VOT for this fascinating account of a remarkable achievement.