Colors RN WWII Landing Ship Dock

[Arjan]

I wonder what paint scheme was used on the British lend-lease Casa Grande type LSDs at the time of the Normandy landings. The Royal Navy had four of these : HMS Eastway, HMS Oceanway, HMS Northway and HMS Highway. There's not much info to be found on these vessels but I know that HMS Eastway , HMS Oceanway and HMS Northway took part in operation Neptune. HMS Eastway carried cause way pontoon tugs, HMS Oceanway carried two LCTs with 22 tanks and HMS Northway carried 46 loaded DUKWs.

 

An IWM pic of HMS Northway :

 

THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR: THE CAMPAIGN IN NORMANDY, JUNE 1944. Image: IWM (A 24357) IWM Non Commercial License

 

Perhaps these vessels still retained their US colors and were not over painted in RN colors ? Many years ago I built the old Lindberg kit and it's about time to finish it.

 

Arjan

Edited April 24 by Arjan

[beefy66]

Hi Arjan

Quick look on Navsource.org shows a photo of LSD 10 Higway it looks like a dark grey possibly US28 #27 Neutral Haze Gray not the lighter Haze grey.

 

HTH

 

Keith

[Arjan]

Thanks Keith, much obliged. Any idea about the color of the underwater paint ? The Lindberg box art shows red brown underwater paint but in this pic the underwater paint looks much darker ? Was red brown in general the standard USN underwater color for big ships ?

 

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

[Rick_H]

I suggest that dark area that you see in the photo is not the underwater color, but rather the black boot topping.  On amphibs like this that sailed higher in the water but went to work with the stern flooded, the boot topping was much wider than that on a similiarly-sized ship that didn't play flooding games as a habit.

Rick

[Arjan]

Thanks Rick, I think I will indeed go with a black top above the red brown underwater paint. Lots of interesting pics of HMS Eastway on the IWM site but very few if any of the other three ships. One IWM film has some footage of HMS Northway :

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060023858

 

Navsource gives a rather strange description of HMS Oceanway's cargo during D-day :

 

 

"HMS Oceanway departed Portland Harbour at 0610 hours, 6 June 1944 arriving at OMAHA BEACH at

1530 hours the same day to off-load 20 landing craft, each craft loaded with one tank. Oceanway sailed for

Normandy as part of Follow-up Convoy B2. She departed Omaha at 2200 hours returning to Portland where she

arrived at 0705 on the morning of 7 June 1944 "

 

I take it this should be 22 tanks in 2 LCTs as I wrote earlier. There is no evidence that any LCM3s carried tanks during the  D-Day landings.

 

Interesting account by a former New Zealand crew member of HMS Oceanway :

 

https://www.pnbhs.school.nz/old-boys/old-boys-news/sub-lieut-james-kelly-shares-story-service-wwii/

 

Account by a crew member of HMS Northway :

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/96/a4119996.shtml

 

I take it that VE day in the above should be D-Day instead.

 

Arjan

 

 

Edited April 25 by Arjan

[Danny L]

Hi,

Oceanway  did  land  the  Sherman’s  in  20  LCM.  Details  below.

 

Regards

 

Danny

 

HMS  Oceanway  report.

 

From  :  Commanding  Officer,  HMS  Oceanway

Date  :  8th  June  1944

 

HMS  Oceanway  left  Portland  at  0610B  on  6th  June  1944,  and  joined  Convoy B2  at  0636  in  a  position  3 ½  miles  South  of  Portland  Bill.

 

2.  Oceanway  carried  20  LCM(3),  each  loaded  with  one  33  ton  tank.

 

3.  Arrived  in  the  Transport  Area  at  1530,  and  received  orders  from  CTF 124  to  proceed  to  Fox  Green  Beach  and  land  tanks.  Dock  was  flooded  to  a  depth  of 5’ 6’’  during  the  passage  to  the  beach,  and  Stern  Gate  was  in  the  lowered  position  for  the  last  2  miles.

 

4.  At  1710,  discharged  all  LCM,  which  were  seen  to  proceeded  inshore  with  dispatch. 

 

5.  at  1830,  embarked  14  wounded  US  Army  personnel,  and  at  2200  sailed  for  Portland  with  one  escort.  Arrived  Portland  at  0705B  7th  June  1944.

 

History  of  the  745th  Tank  Battalion  August  1942  to  June  1945.

 

The  loading  and  disembarking  order  called  for  the  following :

Company “B”  and  Battalion  CO  -  95  men  and  6  Officers  to  LSD  and  land  at  H +360  minutes,

 

Loading  took  place  on  the  night  of  the  2nd  June.

 

Company “B”  commanded  by  Captain  D.E.  Honeman  was  the  first  tank  company  of  the  Battalion  to  land.  The  Battalion  Commander,  Lt.  Colonel  W.J.  Nicolas,  also  made  the  landing  with  Company “B”.

 

Each  tank  was  loaded  in  an  LCM,  discharged  from  a  Landing  Ship  Dock,  and  made  its  way  through  heavy  seas  to  reach  the  beach  safely  at  15.00  hours.

[Arjan]

Many thanks Danny, that's most interesting. Definitely something I hadn't expected and I'm also surprised all LCM3s seem to have reached the beach safely. The explanation is probably that the LCM were discharged close to the shore. Pity there do not seem to be any photos of this event.

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

[Arjan]

I've found some more info about the landing in question :

 

 

Ireland’s tank was aboard a landing craft, mechanized (LCM), one of eighteen aboard a landing ship, dock (LSD). The LSD flooded its hold to float the LCMs, each of which carried one tank. Company B and the battalion command group landed in the area of the 3d Battalion, 16th Infantry, on Fox Green Beach at about 1500 hours.

Ireland’s tank, nicknamed Betty, was turret deep in water when it exited the LCM. He tried to open his hatch to take a picture, but the tank ran into a hole as he did so and he got soaked. Fortunately, a shroud on the back kept the engine dry so he could keep the tank going. There was a lot of mortar fire coming in. All the men on the beach were hugging the high tide line or the side of the cliff. Soldiers of the 16th Regiment Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon guided the tanks through the beach obstacles and debris. Three tanks were disabled in minefields.

 

Source: https://armyhistory.org/soldier-edgar-g-ireland/

 

Arjan

[stevehnz]

An interesting thread, thanks @Arjan. It is not hard to see where the inspiration for Fearless & Intrepid came from.

Steve.

[Phil Gollin]

.

 

If it works, this search of the IWM photographic collection gives quite a few more loading examples, but unfortunately none of the external paintwork ;

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=landing ship dock&pageSize=30&media-records=records-with-media&style=list&filters[webCategory][Photographs]=on&filters[periodString][Second World War]=on&page=0

 

.

[Arjan]

Interestingly on D_Day HMS Eastway carried cause way pontoon tugs or rather the constituent parts to assemble some Rhino Ferries :

 

 

The Shermans of C company  745th Tank Battalion were discharged on Omaha Beach by Rhino Ferries :

 

"Company "C" had its difficulties getting ashore, and seven tanks of the company along with the command group of Battalion Headquarters floated around on the turbulent sea on their Rhino Ferry from about midnight on June 6 until about 1000 on the morning of June 7 before a landing finally was made by the crippled Ferry. Shore forces had to clear bodies and debris away from in front of the Rhino Ferry before the tanks rolled ashore. "

 

Source :  https://worldwartwoveterans.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/History-of-the-745th-Tank-Battalion-August-1942-to-June-1945.pdf

 

The Rhino Ferry is probably just as little known as the Landing Ship Dock. This is what it looked like :

 

 

An account by a C Company tanker :

 

https://www.army.mil/article/105520/quad_city_veteran_recalls_d_day_service_with_first_army

 

Arjan