In the summers of 2000-2002, the Naval History & Heritage Command's underwater archaeologists conducted surveys off the Normandy coast for U.S. Navy ships lost on and after D-Day in June 1944. This was an ambitious study, for more than 5,000 Allied ships and other craft participated in Operation Neptune, and official records indicate that by 19 June the U.S. Navy had lost 162 vessels. The survey areas comprised the waters off Omaha and Utah beaches, Pointe du Hoc, the heavily mined Banc du Cardonnet, and the Pointe et Raz de la Percee.
The Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) supported the 2000 survey, and INA board director George Robb provided the research vessel Robo, along with its complement of remote-sensing equipment. The Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management program and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Exploration program supported the surveys in 2001 and '02, with additional corporate and private support.
The 2000 search operation was designed to cover the maximum amount of ocean in the most expedient manner. For this reason, the remote-sensing survey only made use of a side-scan sonar and a marine magnetometer. Later surveys included use of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) provided by Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division. In 2002, a multi-beam echo sounder provided by Reson, Inc., allowed for the three-dimensional mapping of identified wrecks. Not surprisingly, the combined survey areas yielded more than 1,400 magnetic targets and over 300 acoustic targets.
Omaha Beach
Surviving wrecks discovered at Omaha Beach included the large ocean-going tug USS Partridge (ATO-138) and troop transport Susan B. Anthony (AP-72). The survey also confirmed the presence of four duplex-drive Sherman tanks and extensive remains of Omaha's Mulberry, or artificial harbor.
The Partridge, torpedoed by a German E-boat, suffered additional explosions in both boilers and her magazine. Buried under the sea floor, her wreckage spread over 9,000 square yards with only 9.25 feet of hull rising into the water column. The Susan B. Anthony, a passenger steamer launched in 1930 and acquired for a troop transport by the Navy in 1942, struck a mine directly under number 4 hold on 7 June. The forward masts, booms, and bow guns were still visible on the wreck. The number 1 cargo hold also sustained a substantial impact, indicating that perhaps the ship struck more than one mine.
The Mulberry survey captured a long line of caissons running parallel to shore for a mile and another set 330 yards long and perpendicular to shore. The caissons, constructed of concrete and towed across the Channel, varied from several well-preserved examples to others reduced to rubble. The Mulberry survey also captured the remnants of a Whale, or floating roadway, which formed part of the artificial harbor, and the steel or concrete pontoons, called Beetles, which floated the Whales.
Despite the presence of fishing gear—including traps and buoys
and the constant threat of entanglement that prevented the search of the entire area, eight block ships and nine caissons were recorded. Several craft could not be found at the locations reported in action reports or hydrographic records. Among these was the LST-496, which—although listed as resting off Omaha Beach—eluded detection by the survey equipment.Utah Beach
The Utah Beach survey grid revealed the remnants of the SS Charles Morgan, the USS Tide (AM-125), Rich (DE-695), LCT-524, another landing craft, two barges, and the Gooseberry 1 harbor installation. The Tide, an Auk-class minesweeper, had just finished sweeping for mines and hauling her gear aboard on 7 June, when an explosion from a mine broke the ship's back, tearing away bulkheads and leaving a gaping hole in her hull. The Rich, a Buckley-class destroyer escort, was also destroyed by mines. Both shipwrecks were heavily salvaged after the war, and today their remains are only fragmentary debris fields.
More intact were a landing barge, vehicle (LBV) and a landing barge, emergency repair (LBE). A single 500-pound bomb dropped from an aircraft sank the Charles Morgan, a Liberty ship that had been built in Houston, Texas. More damaging than the bomb was the postwar salvage that has reduced the hull down to less than 3.3 feet above the mudline. Available archival data sparked some controversy over the actual location of the Charles Morgan and provoked a dispute that the archaeological survey was able to resolve.
The harbor installation in the Baie du Vey, south of Utah Beach, was surveyed, and the remains of the ten sunken American vessels were mapped again, despite extensive obstruction from fishing gear.
Banc du Cardonnet and the Pointes
The survey of Banc du Cardonnet—a sand bank just off Utah Beach paralleling the coastline and essentially running from the coastal towns Barfleur to Grandcamp—revealed the remains of the LST-523, LCT-777, LCT-244, LCT-305, LCI-232, PC-1261, a Sherman tank, a possible U.S. Army DUKW, two other motorized vehicles, a barge, the USS Meredith (DD-726), LST-523, HMS Minster, and ten other unidentified wrecks.
The Meredith's lower hull is embedded in the sea bottom, but a portion of the vessel's stern rises about 9.5 feet off the sea floor and clearly shows signs of postwar salvage. She was part of a salvage contract awarded to the Belgian firm Van Loo sometime in 1960.
Resting upside down, the LST-523 is relatively more complete and exhibits substantial impacts both amidships and in the bow area. A blue polypropylene line circles around part of the ship's structure, an indication that sport divers frequently visit the site. Here too, are discrepancies in the official record. The LCT-244, for example, was identified as lost at Utah even though no wreckage was found. Contradictory archival research revealed she was returned to the United Kingdom after the invasion.
One wreck compared favorably enough in hull shape to tentatively identify it as being the submarine chaser PC-1261. The LCT-777 is a charted wreck site off Utah, and the wreck of an LCT was found at that location. Oral histories and a photograph showing the LCT-777 upside-down on the shore, however, indicate the charted wreck might be a different LCT.
The Pointe du Hoc survey discovered only one unidentified wreck, probably the LCA-860 or LCA-914, both reportedly sunk while making their way to du Hoc. The Pointe et Raz de la Percée survey grid contained one wreck site, identified on nautical charts as an LST. The remaining hull structure and machinery are not indicative of an LST, but more consistent with an LCI (Large).
Conclusions
A surprising discovery during the 2000-2002 archaeological surveys was the severity of the impacts detected on many of the wreck sites, particularly the larger ships. There was more damage than could be attributed to the detonation of mines or bombs listed in the reports. Allied efforts to keep the channels and sea lanes open often resulted in removing obstructions with the most expedient methods.
In circumstances where damaged ships or wrecks could not be salvaged or removed, U.S. and British ships would destroy non-operational craft. The USS Arikara (AT-98) and Swivel (ARS-36) deck logs record the standard procedure to sink these vessels, which included setting demolition charges, making firing runs, or a combination of the two. In the case of sunken vessels such as the torpedoed LST-314, a British ship would drop depth charges to level the wreckage.
Postwar salvage operations caused the heaviest damage, however. The French metal industry had a huge demand for scrap metal for nearly 15 years following the war. Local diver and salvor Jacques Lemonchois remembered that demolition sites were everywhere on the Normandy coast. He related that for those shipwrecks with hulls rising above the seabed, salvage companies such as his used blowtorches and explosives to cut the structure just above the mud line. According to Lemonchois, it took five years to reduce the Susan B. Anthony to a 10-meter relief off the sea floor. The Société Métallurgique de Normandie reported in 1957 that between 1953 and that time, 25,000 tons were delivered to its Martin Acierie scrap yard.
The results of the survey accurately verified the reported wreck locations of larger ships such as the Meredith and Tide. The best preserved wrecks, however, were the previously unrecorded small craft and landing barges, which probably escaped salvaging for scrap metal because of their size. As with other World War II losses, many of the reported wreck positions are off by considerable distances and in some cases wrecks are misidentified or lie in areas other than those that were reported. The caissons, Whales, and Beetles discovered off Omaha make the Mulberry there one of the most dramatic and coherent structures discernible on the sea floor.
Despite 65 years under water and subject to human salvage, the Normandy wrecks represent the full scope of Operation Neptune vessels, including Liberty ships, troop transports, destroyers, minesweepers, landing ships and craft for tanks and infantry, amphibious Sherman tanks, a submarine chaser, and a variety of barges. They memorialize the events in which Sailors and Soldiers lost their lives either in battle or in support of the war effort. Today, the wrecks act as artificial reefs, supporting a variety of sea life and the local fishing and diving communities. The caissons, in particular, provide a healthy fishing ground, apparent in the number of commercial and recreational fishing boats that frequent the harbor area.
Sources:
Report of Lost and Non-Operational Ships and Craft, serial 00147 (1944).
USS Arikara Log Book, no series (6-9 June 1944); USS Swivel Log Book, no series (25 July 1944). USS Pinto Log Book, no series (9 June 1944)
The Société Métallurgique de Normandie (SMN) 1957.5.
U.S. Navy at War 1941-1945, Fleet Admiral E. J. King, CNO, U.S. Navy, 1946.
Archaeological Remote Sensing of The D-Day Landings: Utah and Omaha Beaches Normandy, France. Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, Underwater Archaeology Branch, Washington, DC. 2008.
Archaeological Remote Sensing of Operation Neptune: The D-Day Landings at Omaha and Utah Beaches, Normandy, France. Field Season 2001. Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, Underwater Archaeology Branch, Washington, DC. 2002.