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At the beginning of 1944 the Tenby was part of the 9th minesweeping Flotilla based at Portsmouth and carrying out frequent sweeps in the English Channel.

This included an E-boat scare off Eastbourne in the early spring.

Prior to June 6th many final clearance sweeps were made along the Channel to ensure that all was clear in our section before the invasion began, although of course at the time we were quite ignorant as to what was being planned.

What we did know was that in the final week of sweeping the weather was so diabolical that in normal circumstances all sweeping operations would have been cancelled.

In the May of that year, instead of returning to Portsmouth, we anchored in the Solent and were informed that this would be our berth for quite some time. Initially leave was granted and all sorts of liberty boats were made available to take us ashore, mainly to the Isle of Wight.

The Solent was beginning to fill up with many ships of all shapes and sizes arriving daily. Working hours were spent making sure all systems were in order and defects put right or reported. In off-duty time many took up handicraft work — rug making, wooden trays made of matchsticks etc — fishing rods were made available and games tournaments were held between mess decks. Ratings and Officers were organised into teams (darts tournaments were all the rage). So the ship was prepared, the crew contented, well fed and rested, but with no idea of what was in store.

Because of severe weather the actual date for the invasion of Normandy was postponed. However, on 5th June 1944 sea conditions had improved, although still very choppy, and at 12.55 on that day the Tenby, with the 9th Flotilla set sail from the Solent heading for Juno beach on the French coast between Le Harve and Cherbourg. Other ships in the Flotilla were the Bangor, Blackpool, Boston, Bridlington, Bridport, Eastborne and Sidmouth. They were accompanied by the trawlers Bryher, Dalmatta, Ijuin and Signa.

As soon as we got under way the skipper informed us that the second front was about to open up. There was also a message from General Eisenhower in a leaflet delivered by the coxswain to each member of the crew saying the ‘Operation Neptune’, the Naval part of ‘Operation Neptune’, was about to begin. So it was with some elation that we greeted this news and the saying then was ‘The beginning of the end’, even ‘Home for Christmas’. We should be so lucky!

We were also informed that, should we hit trouble, we could expect no help from the other sweepers — we would be on our own. This last statement saw a quiet search of mess decks for mae-west lifejackets, then a not so quiet stampede towards the heads!

Our job was to sweep towards the French coast to clear a passageway through any minefield so as to give the invasion ships a clear run. A ´óÏó´«Ã½ commentator had joined the Tenby and he was busily recording unobtrusively at one side of the bridge. In fact he was quite close to where I was standing on watch as Starboard lookout. After a couple of hours everyone was called to ‘Action Stations’, where we remained until after the invasion had begun. By 19.15 that evening the combined Flotilla had streamed sweeps and joined the assault convoy J1.

Mines were swept through a German minefield although no explosions were heard below decks. On completion of opening up the traffic lanes (single passageways to the French coast), great areas had to be cleared to allow the bombarding ships and transport vessels room to manoeuvre and facilitate the landing of troops and heavy artillery. This part of the operation went extremely well.

At about 07.30 on 6th June the Flotilla took up positions off the French coast. HMS Warspite, together with destroyers and other large warships, were pounding the landing areas, and also further inland. Bomber aircraft were passing overhead in large numbers.

During the first day and the night the 9th Flotilla was positioned on the outside edge of all these happenings, supplying protective cover for our small section of the immense operation. It was understood that destroyer patrols in the English Channel cut off any attempts at German interference. One of our crew looking over the ships’ side saw two Germans floating by, their war over.

We were warned to keep a sharp lookout for frogman or mines, and later that morning some of the crew engaged in repelling mines that were floating by the ship’s side, and were frantically shoving them off with boat oars and other implements.

For the following three weeks the Flotilla carried out sweeping duties during the day, opening up more passageways to allow the invasion forces to land. At night we took up position hove-to near the Warspite on the edge of the invasion fleet and other vessel, giving some minor protection to those ships between us and the French coast.

One night we found ourselves drifting, and as we were supposed to be at anchor this was quite alarming, so the cable party were hastily piped to weigh the Port anchor. It was soon discovered that the anchor had parted from its cable and we were quite literally adrift, speeding steadily towards Le Harve.

Orders were given to get underway immediately and we were soon able to take up our former position. This time with the Starboard anchor firmly embedded. So until the next refit some months later we were to remain a one-anchor ship.

After a further three weeks the 9th Flotilla was ordered back to its base in Portsmouth. However, the general rejoicing was short lived as we were soon destined for another major operation — Cherbourg.

The allied forces were making good progress up the Cherbourg peninsula, but it was another matter trying to breach the heavy German fortifications of Cherbourg itself, so it was decided to bombard those defences from the sea.

Rumour had it that our orders from the Admiralty were to wait for the nine o’clock news on the radio, and if Cherbourg had still not fallen (it hadn’t) we were to proceed across the Channel and R/V with a small task force of mainly American warships already assembled near the French coast. At the time the Flotilla was anchored off the Isle of Wight close to the Needles.

On the morning scheduled for the attack the weather looked perfect for the sweepers to go in and clear an area for the bombarding force, consisting of the cruiser HMS Glasgow, an American cruiser, and destroyers. The morning mist was a help and we began sweeping. Then suddenly the sun broke through and there, streaming along at a steady eight knots, was the 9th Flotilla — sitting ducks!!

The German defences opened up, and with shells landing all around us, we hastily got in the sweeping gear and with the aid of a smokescreen laid by the destroyers, were able to retreat out of range of the German guns. From this position it was possible to watch the battle in comparative safety, none being so intrepid as our Navigation Officer, who blithely climbed on to the bridge roof with camera poised, snapping away merrily. HMS Glasgow was really going at it, pounding away at the fortifications. She was hit twice by shellfire. The Bridport was also damaged by shrapnel and had to return to Southampton for repairs.

The operation was successful and Cherbourg was soon in the hands of the Allies. This opened up a vital port for the landing of troops and supplies.

For a further six weeks our routine consisted of daytime sweeping and defence positions at night. The followed a period of very welcome leave. For the remainder of 1944 the 9th Flotilla was engaged in convoy duties. The port of Cherbourg was now in use and large convoys were passing to and fro across the Channel.

The U-boat threat had abated considerably but there were one or two occasions when depth charges had to be dropped as a precaution. On the whole convoy routine was very tedious, with long hours on watch and little excitement.

So ended a momentous year. In the annuls of our National history the D-Day operation was perhaps one of the most successful and outstanding. It is enough to say with some sense of pride ‘I was there ‘.

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