Skip to main content

Destroyer Campbeltown, The

By: Naval Institute Press

Type: Hardcover

Product Line: Historical Books (Naval Institute Press)


Product Info

Title
Destroyer Campbeltown, The
Category
Author
Al Ross
Publish Year
1990
Dimensions
10x9.5x.5"
NKG Part #
2148192904
Type
Hardcover

Description

The destroyer Campbeltown is not only famous for her part in the commando raid on the St. Nazaire dry dock in 1942 but is also representative of an important type. Built as the USS Buchanan (DD131), she was one of over 270 flush-decked destroyers put into service towards the end of World War I. Sent to Great Britain under the Lend-Lease program and renamed Campbeltown, she spent eighteen arduous months on convoy duty, before being selected for a hazardous mission to deny the Nazi warship Tirpitz the use of repair facilities at the French port of St. Nazaire. During the desperate but successful operation, Campbeltown rammed the port's lock gates. Eleven hours later, delayed action fuses set off four tons of explosives that destroyed both the ship and the docks.