79 years on. D-Day and Red Funnel

Today marks the 79th anniversary of the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare, codenamed Operation 'Overlord' and better known as D-Day. The Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy marked the start of a long and costly campaign to wrench Europe from Nazi occupation. The invasion took place at five key areas, labelled Gold, Juno, Omaha, Sword and Utah.

Red Funnel vessels and those which were to become vessels of the Company were actively involved in the events of early June 1944.

HMS Calshot, Red Funnel’s twin screw steam tug which had been requisitioned on December 16th 1940, served as the Headquarter ship for the Juno landings and would become one of the 436 vessels, 321 landing crafts, and 115 ships, involved in the landings on that beach. She was also involved in towing sections of the Mulberry harbour to France.

HMS Queen of Thanet and HMS Queen of Kent, vessels that would respectively become Solent Queen II and Lorna Doone II when purchased from New Medway Steam Packet Co. Ltd in 1949 were employed as control ships responsible for the assembly and despatch of Mulberry Harbour units located off Selsey, Sussex and Dungeness, Kent, respectively. They also provided accommodation for the Phoenix and Whale landing parties.

Whilst the vessel that would become Norris Castle (II) was originally launched as LCT 828, a MK 4 Tank Landing Craft (LCT MK4). The vessel had been built in 1942 from prefabricated frames made by Joseph Park, Northwick and completed at A. Findlay of Old Kilpatrick and saw service between Poole and the Normandy beaches at D-Day and after. She also carried out experimental work in Poole harbour. Having been acquired by Red Funnel in March 1947, she was remodelled and partially reconstructed by J.I. Thornycroft & Co. Ltd.

At Southampton four embarkation ‘hards’ were built, with three built between the old and new docks. These hards were built specifically to load two types of assault vessels: Landing Craft Tank (LCT), the same type as Norris Castle (II) and Landing Ship Tank (LST). The simple design of the hards comprised a concrete apron above the high water mark and pre-cast concrete beach-hardening mats in the intertidal area. This gave a solid surface onto which LCTs and LSTs could “beach”, enabling vehicles to safely drive over and embark into the vessels.

S2 hard was next to the Royal Pier and the area which it covered is now incorporated into Red Funnel’s marshalling yard. The hard remained in place for a number of years after the end of World War II and the Company did explore the option of using it to load Norris Castle (II).

In 1950, Red Funnel introduced a 75ft. square pontoon which had formed part of the Mulberry Harbour floating pierheads during the D-Day invasion. Two 80 ft. bridge spans of Mulberry Harbour stock would be used to link the pontoon to the jetty at Southampton. The bridge could take vehicles up to 40 tons and would allow the converted tank landing craft, Norris Castle (II), to ship or unload cars and lorries directly over her ramp.?

This ‘Whale’ roadway section and buffer pontoon from the Mulberry Harbour were Grade II listed in October 2017 by Historic England under entry 1448094 with grid reference SU4180510938. Its listing stating that?it was a tangible reminder of the part played by the Mulberry Harbour in the success of Operation Overlord; and that it was one of only four known surviving examples of a Whale section in Britain and possibly the only surviving example of a buffer pontoon; The listing also states that it was to act as a reminder of the prominent role of the City of Southampton in the preparation and launching of Overlord.