MOTOR GUNBOAT 314

In the blog's main image, the old destroyer HMS Campbeltown (originally the Unites States' Ship Buchanan) is shown steaming at full speed towards the outer caisson gate of the 'Normandie' dock - a gate which, when ballasted with seawater, weight considerably more than she did. Skilfully hidden deep within her reinforced bow, were more than four tons of explosives. Campbeltown was lead ship of a flotilla totalling 17 vessels, one of which, Motor Gunboat 314 - shown above (wikimedia Commons) and in the Ross Watton image - held both the Military and Naval Force Commanders. Captained by Lieutenant Dunstan Curtis - later to command the Naval wing of Ian Fleming's 30 Assault Unit -the 314, prior to the raid, had been part of a secret flotilla operating for the Intelligence agencies, whose task was to carry agents to and from the coast of Occupied France. For full details of her 'unusual' operational life, see the author's webpage at http://www.operation-chariot.org/mgb314.html