THE ROYAL NAVY

The Royal Navy played a key dynamic part in winning the Battle of the Atlantic and the build-up to D-Day, as well as carrying out essential bombardments to destroy enemy coastal defences and effectively blockaded the English Channel on D-Day itself.

This hard won victory was essential if Britain was to survive as a base for the assault on Europe. It was also vital for the successful import of American and Canadian military power. Simultaneously, the maritime blockade of German controlled Europe put serious limits on Nazi war production.

Once global communications had been secured it was then important to dominate the waters of the English Channel. Joint naval and maritime air offensives in the spring of 1944 forced German shipping back into its harbours. This dominance allowed the build-up of Allied forces along the south coast of Britain, relatively free of naval attack or reconnaissance. It also facilitated deception policies that would do so much to assist the Allies in Normandy.

Special Order of the Day, 31 May 1944 by Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay KCB, KBE, MVO, Allied Naval C-I-C:

“Our task in conjunction with the Merchant Navies of the United Nations, and supported by the Allied Air Forces, is to carry the Allied Expeditionary Force to the Continent, to establish it there in a secure bridgehead and to build it up and maintain it at a rate which will outmatch that of the enemy. Let no one underestimate the magnitude of this task.”