"Manpower Shortages in the RN" Topic
10 Posts
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ScottWashburn  | 14 May 2008 1:43 p.m. PST |
I was reading a book on Royal Navy operations in connection with the Normandy invasion and I was amazed to learn that when they expanded Overlord from the original three-divsions to its final size, the RN was so strapped for manpower they had to lay up four of the older battleships in order to find crews for the additional minesweepers, escorts and landing craft that would be needed. Hard to imagine laying up capital ships to crew auxilliaries! |
 Virtualscratchbuilder   | 14 May 2008 2:28 p.m. PST |
Indeed. If I remember right, Two of the R's were up in Scapa with reduced crews. Malaya and Rodney followed, though Rodney was held with a reduced crew. Even Renown went out of commission in mid 45. By the end of the war, only the 4 KGV's, Nelson, Warspite and Queen Elizabeth were in commission. Valiant had been undergoing repairs since 12/44 never got back into commission. |
| troopwo | 14 May 2008 2:36 p.m. PST |
Don't forget the one they gave the Soviets as lend-lease. |
| Virtualscratchbuilder | 14 May 2008 3:10 p.m. PST |
"Don't forget the one they gave the Soviets as lend-lease." Right… that would be the 3rd R. But she was manned by the Soviets. The 4th R fired on Normandy, then went around to Dragoon, then into reserve, so that by the end of the war no R's were left in British commission. |
| Virtualscratchbuilder | 14 May 2008 3:26 p.m. PST |
My bad… Malaya went out of commission in 43, was reactivated for D-day, then decommissioned again May 45. Valiant's accident was August 44, not December, and she never recomissioned, as repairs were stoped in January 45. |
| Kutusov | 15 May 2008 4:12 a.m. PST |
By this time wouldn't most of the German capital ships be sunk/damaged or bottled up so the need for all these large capital ships in european waters wouldn't of been vital so so stripping them of crew for other purposes would of made sense if needing large numbers of trained sailors. |
| Virtualscratchbuilder | 15 May 2008 4:44 a.m. PST |
Tirpitz was still in Norway at the time of D-day, and was still considered a serious threat. The British knew that the Barracuda raid in April 44 had not put the ship out of action and they were not able to get after her again until after D-day. Tirpitz apparently was at sea briefly in August of 44, before finally being destroyed by heavy bombs in November of 44. |
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