Wednesday, 21 August 2013

Vorpostenboot 721



There are very low tides at the moment so, after a tip off from a local friend, we went to see a wreck that is exposed at low tide near Plozevet. According to our friend the wreck was of a German warship that ran aground after a naval battle in the bay. After some round about web searching I found out that this was a Vorpostenboot or VP, which is what I thought given the size and shape of the wreck, particularly of the boiler.



This particular patrol boat, VP721, was involved in a naval action on the night of August 22nd to 23rd 1944 with British warships, probably destoyers or coastal forces I would have thought, and was run aground on fire with the loss of fifty of the crew. The survivors were captured by the local resistance. I reckon there's some scope for a coastal forces scenario in this somewhere, although I'd need to find out the other side of the story, specifically the naval forces involved on the British side of the battle.

Postscript...

A bit more digging and I've found the answer, in the shape of Force 27 which engaged and destroyed several VP's, minesweepers and a sprerrbrecher in the Bay of Audierne on 22/23 August 1944. This was the last action that Force 27, consisting of the cruiser HMS Mauritius and the destroyers HMCS Iroquois and HMS Ursa, took part in as the final stages of Operation KINETIC.  The photo below shows HMS Mauritius in action on the night.


So, how VP721 met it's end is now clear.

'Using the radar on Iroquois, the destroyers stalked the convoy at long range until 0405, when the enemy ships were illuminated by starshell. Upon opening fire, Force 27 quickly overwhelmed the enemy, sinking two vessels and forcing two others to collide in the confusion and burst into flames as they raced for shore, with surviving crew members jumping over the side as they went. One of these vessels capsized and sank while the other drove onto the rocks at full speed and exploded'

http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol13/tnm_13_3_33-47.pdf

4 comments:

  1. Interesting. I am assuming the one you were looking at is teh one that drove on the rocks at full speed and exploded?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes,

    As far as I can make out, it seems like the best candidate.

    ReplyDelete
  3. An amazing piece of history. Nearly the anniversary too, 69 years ago tomorrow night.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Correction to the above - 69 years ago tonight! (Tired eyes looking at the wrong day on calender).

    ReplyDelete

Labels

Bag The Hun (854) Books (502) AK47 (499) Ironclads (492) Wings at War (416) Pre-Dreadnoughts (244) Back of Beyond (242) Coastal Warfare (225) Napoleonic Naval (200) Britain's Small Wars (199) Bolt Action (175) Victory at Sea (172) What a Tanker (171) Knights of the Sky (166) Target Locked On (163) MiG Alley (160) Chain of Command (149) Old West (147) Find Fix and Strike (138) Bag The MiG (126) Naval Thunder (120) Sandbox Skirmish (119) Naval Command (118) Air War Over Khalkhin Gol (117) Pirates (116) Indo China / Vietnam (114) Fistful of Lead (109) 15mm Sci-Fi / Near Future (95) Darkest Africa (91) VBCW (89) Strength and Honour (86) Continuation War (83) Ancients (81) Shows (79) ACW (77) The Football War (76) Corsairs and Cavaliers (71) Boardgames (67) France's Small Wars (67) Shipwreck! (66) BKC (65) Rapid Fire (63) Saurian Safari (62) Air War C21 (60) Cruel Seas (60) Saga (60) Journals (58) The Men Who Would Be Kings (58) Nimitz (55) Flashpoint Alto Cenepa (53) IABSM (53) International Naval Wargaming Day (53) Gladiators (51) Flashpoint Taiwan (50) Finest Hour (49) Red Actions! (47) Fortifications (46) Scramble for Britain (45) Flashpoint Baltic (42) Duel of Aces (41) War of the Pacific (40) Cold War (39) Flames above the Falklands (39) Thud Ridge (37) One Hour Wargames (36) SCW (36) Desert Spitfires (35) Death in the Dark Continent (34) RCW (34) Algernon Pulls It Off (32) Atlantic Wall (31) English Civil War / Anglo Dutch War Naval (31) Lion Rampant (31) Post Apocalypse (31) Iron Cow (30) Bag the Springbok (29) Mexican Revolution (28) Normandy Firefight (28) 2mm English Civil War (27) Dreadnoughts (27) Full Thrust (27) It Rolls For Ivan (26) Bulldogs Away! (24) Samurai (24) Jet Knights of the Sky (23) 28mm English Civil War (22) Arctic Eagles (22) Imaginations (22) Achtung Kommando! (21) Flashpoint PVO (21) Ancient Naval (20) PITS (20) Galactic Heroes (19) Steamer Wars (19) Strontium Dog (19) Iron Cross (18) Winter War (18) Aeronef (15) Aircraft (15) Imperial Commander (15) Rate of Fire (15) Zulus! (15) Aliens (14) Dragon Rampant (14) Black Ops (13) CY6 Jet Age (13) Congo (13) Mad for War (13) Impetus (12) Wars of Insurgency (12) Flashpoint Fleet Air Arm (11) Gaslands (11) 633 Squadron (10) Franco Thai Air War (10) Get the Goeben! (10) Jungle Green (10) Sharp Practice (10) 28mm Future Wars (9) Bohica (9) Dux Britanniarum (9) Fire in the Sky (9) HYW (9) Merry Xmas Mr Sankara (9) Adventures in Jimland (8) Bombers over Germany (8) Cry Havoc (8) French Indian Wars (8) Renaissance Naval (8) Star Wars Legion (8) Sword and Spear (8) Through The Mud and Blood (8) Air War Angola (7) Frostgrave (7) Target for Tonight (7) A Mighty Fortress (6) AirWar:1918 (6) Five Parsecs From Home (6) French Resistance (6) Check Your Six! (5) Five Men at Kursk (5) Fivecore Skirmish (5) Lacquered Coffins (5) Maurice (5) Seven Days to the River Rhine (5) Three Musketeers (5) What a Cowboy (5) Wings Over Suez (5) Arab Revolt (4) Corvette Command (4) In Her Majesty's Name (4) Infamy Infamy (4) Medieval Naval (4) Never Mind The Billhooks (4) Battletech (3) Gangsters (3) HOTT (3) Hind Commander (3) Lord of the Sea (3) Luft 46 (3) Mourir Pour l'Indochine (3) Sturmovik Commander (3) Whispering Death (3) Blood Red Skies (2) Chincha Islands War (2) Crom (2) Disposable Heroes (2) Fire and Steel (2) Fivecore Company Command (2) Iron Stars (2) Judge Dredd (2) Lethal Skies (2) NUTS! (2) No Go Zone (2) Pulp! (2) Starfighters! (2) War in El Dorado (2) A Billion Suns (1) Air War 1940 (1) Battlegroup (1) Black Powder (1) Convoy (1) Dropzone Commander (1) Falklands War (1) Harpoon (1) If The Lord Spares Us (1) Indo-Pakistan War (1) Load and Return (1) MiG Hunters (1) Missile Threat (1) Missiles at Sea (1) Naval Wargames Society (1) Norway 1940 (1) Oi Navarcoi! (1) Sea Wars Fleet Actions (1) Si Vis Pacem (1) Spanish American War (1) Sunray is Down (1) Ultracombat Normandy (1) Wars of the Roses (1) Xenos Rampant (1)