However, the V3 attacks continued, with the K-Verband launching dozens at a time – though very few of their pilots survived. The target was obliterated, so ending that particular menace. This prompted Rodney to fire twenty 16-inch shells at factory buildings suspected of hosting the V3s, which were otherwise easily transportable and could be swiftly launched from any beach. Under interrogation he ‘confessed that there were 50 of them operating from… a small town just beyond our eastern flank,’ the Rodney’s Midshipman Roger Morris revealed in his own journal. In the meantime, a Polish Navy ML crew captured a V3 and its pilot. They failed to kill any enemy but threw up plentiful supplies of fish, which were eagerly scooped up by sailors in various ships.Ī Seehund midget submarine, this one is today on display at Brest Castle, France. Motor Launches (MLs) joined in, dropping their own charges. With the prospect of an imminent V3 attack, cutters were sent out to circle Rodney, their crews tasked with dropping small explosive charges to deter the enemy. Investigation proved that someone had left a pump from a bathroom sump running, and after clearing the water it was pumping air out!’ ‘Suspicious of a limpet mine being placed on the hull, the alarm was sounded and a small charge dropped over the side. ‘Someone saw bubbles appearing from the ship’s side,’ he related in his midshipman’s journal. The warning prompted HMS Rodney to raise steam with all haste, the battleship’s Midshipman Tony Robinson describing ‘panic stations’ though there had already been several false alarms. In the early hours of July 6, Rodney was informed human torpedoes and midget submarines were trying to infiltrate Allied anchorages off the beachhead. A V3 human torpedo, an art work created especially for ‘HMS Rodney’.

D day naval armada