Lieutenant Harrison ordered Trentonian turned broadside to show a better silhouette to the attacking ship, and reduced speed to eliminate any possible bow wave[34] in hopes of a friendly identification being made. The fire on Monarch appeared to switch back to Trentonian. Again the shells missed, spraying Trentonian with geysers of water. With the range now reduced to one thousand yards, Harrison was seen leaning out over the bridge railing, shaking his fist, and yelling, “Damn poor gunnery for such close range!”[35]
By now the signalman on Trentonian’s bridge was signalling Morse code to the American ship while the radio operators tried tell the American ship to cease fire.[36]
The range closed to six hundred yards. Harrison changed course to place Trentonian broadside between the two ships and ordered every light in the ship turned on and left on permanently.[37] As soon as the lights were observed, Plunkett ceased fire. Commander Outerson reported in Plunkett’s log, “After about a minute and a half or two minutes recognition lights were observed on the second vessel and fire was ceased.”[38]
Lieutenant Harrison noted in Trentonian’s report, “Fire slackened off and finally ceased about 0245.”[39] As the noise of the attack stopped, the deafening shrill of Monarch’s steam whistle carried on.
It was estimated that Plunkett fired approximately eighty rounds of five-inch ammunition at the two Allied ships. Monarch bore the brunt of the attack; Trentonian suffered several near misses and was undamaged.
Trentonian increased speed to thirteen knots and proceeded towards the damaged Monarch. The ship had to alter course and turn on its navigation lights to avoid a collision with the American destroyer that was closing rapidly with the cable layer.[40]
HMTS Monarch following the accidental attack by USS Plunkett on June 13, 1944. Monarch’s bridge and upperworks were completely destroyed.
Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.
Still screening Monarch, at 0251 Trentonian stopped to lower its whaler to investigate lights in the water.[41] Lieutenant Jack Macbeth, Trentonian’s new navigating officer, was ordered to pick up the men who had been blown off the cable ship; the lights in the water were from their life jackets.[42]
Monarch’s whaler had been launched with survivors of the attack and made its way toward Trentonian. The whaler had been severely damaged in the attack and was sinking as rapidly as the boat’s crew could row. Trentonian’s crew desperately encouraged them on, but the whaler sank completely as it came alongside.[43]
The damage to Monarch was extensive. The broken structure to the right of the photo is Monarch’s bridge. The communications cable was cut and lost into the Channel.
Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.
Lieutenant Macbeth was then ordered to take Trentonian’s whaler to Monarch with a boarding party.[44] When they arrived in the cable ship, they found it had been severely damaged and the whistle had been turned off. Two men, the first mate and one seaman, had been killed, and more than thirty were wounded, several seriously, including Monarch’s master, Captain Troops. Most of the crew on the bridge had been killed or critically injured. Macbeth returned to Trentonian with three of the wounded.[45]
Monarch’s radio compartment, riddled with splinter damage.
Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.
At 0335, Trentonian anchored near Monarch. The American destroyer sent a boat over to Trentonian.[46] While its crew was refused entry, a young American ensign asked to see the captain and was escorted directly to Lt. Harrison on the bridge. Harrison acknowledged the young man with a nod and didn’t speak while the ensign identified his ship as the American destroyer USS Plunkett and admitted they were the ones who had fired on Trentonian.[47]
The young officer explained that his captain had challenged the two ships repeatedly and only opened fire when the challenge had not been returned[48] — Commander Outerson had thought the two ships were German E-boats.[49] Harrison stood, staring with silent rage at the American officer and allowed his XO, Lt. Kinsman, to ask the questions.
It did not take long for word to pass to the crew that this officer and the boat crew alongside were responsible for shooting at them. Several of Trentonian’s crew lining the rails above the boat crew had to be physically restrained,[50] as they were more than willing to bring the American sailors aboard to teach them a lesson they would never forget.
Once the American ensign left Trentonian’s bridge and the boat was away, Harrison finally spoke. Witnesses on the bridge state he was full of rage, demanding a court martial, stating “how could they mistake us for E-boats, we are twice the size, the cable layer is even bigger, trigger happy, he’s going to kill somebody….”[51]
The group of ships was joined by a second American destroyer; USS Davis was next in the patrol line to Plunkett. Davis anchored in the area and sent its doctor over to Monarch to join Plunkett’s doctor and Monarch’s own in caring for the wounded. Able Seaman Harold Salmon from Hamilton, Ontario, remembers the doctor from Monarch doing a tremendous amount of work among the wounded while seemingly impervious to his own bad back wound. He was also one of the “oldsters,” with his age estimated in the seventies.[52]
Lieutenant Macbeth was sent back to Monarch with the whaler, a repair party, and two of Monarch’s officers at 0345.[53] Macbeth returned to Trentonian an hour later and reported the damage to the cable ship. Monarch was seaworthy, but its steering gear and compass had been shattered.[54] The ship was listing crazily and the bridge had been ripped to shreds. The ship’s funnel and hull looked as if a huge bomb had burst overtop.[55]
The all-important underwater communications cable had received a direct hit near the winch. The severed end of the cable had sunk to the bottom of the English Channel.[56]
Damage control and repairs to Monarch continued through the early morning hours. Its wounded were treated, and one man was transferred into Plunkett for further care. Plunkett’s doctor reported,
At about 0450 on 13 June this ship received one casualty from British Merchant Ship “Monarch”. Cummings, James, Quartermaster, RN, shrapnel wounds of the left arm and left upper and lower leg. Shock, and possible internal injuries. Treatment: Wounds cleaned, sulfanilamide powder sprinkled in wounds. Sterile dressings applied. Patient given 2 units (500cc) of blood plasma, 2.5 cc Tetanus Toxoid. Transferred to: 6–13–44 Patient transferred to HMS[sic] Corvette #368 for further transfer to hospital ship. Condition Serious.
Crew transferring Monarch’s skipper, Captain Arthur Troops, to Trentonian with a critical head injury.
Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.
Trentonian made several attempts to obtain further medical assistance from hospital landing craft in the area without success.[57] Many of Trentonian’s crew provided care for the wounded. Sick Bay Attendant Allen Singleton was mentioned as providing outstanding care for the wounded.[58]
As the sun rose, the extent of the damage to Monarch could be seen. Its superstructure was devastated; holes from shrapnel had pierced every part of the ship. The bridge had been completely destroyed and carried away. The standing rigging was smashed beyond repair, and everywhere the sight was of blood, wounded, and the dead.[59]
The body of Captain Eric Troops, Monarch’s Skipper, transferred from Trentonian.
Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.
Just before 0700, USS Plunkett transferred five wounded to Trentonian and its doctor treated five wounded in Trentonian. USS Plunkett and USS Davis departed the area at 0712 and resumed their normal patrol.[60]
By 0724, Trentonian had weighed anchor and made fast to Monarch. The uninjured and slightly injured crew were returned to the cable ship. A total of ten seriously wounded men were transferred into Trentonian,[61] including Captain Troops, who was unconscious from a severe head injury and not expected to survive.[62] He was placed in Lt. Harrison’s day cabin on the main deck and made as comfortable as possible. He remained under the constant care of Mona
rch’s doctor and SBA Singleton.
At 0810, Trentonian slipped its lines from Monarch and the two ships started to Portsmouth.[63] Monarch was now under the command of its third officer, as all other senior officers were either dead or critically wounded. The cable ship had to be steered by hand and was somewhat wild, but was able to move under its own power.[64]
Three men were killed and thirty wounded, ten seriously, from Monarch’s crew.
Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.
As feared, after a twelve-hour battle for his life, Monarch’s master, Captain Arthur Eric Troops, died of his wounds at 1400.[65]
Monarch signaled Trentonian at 1430 that the ship was taking on water.[66] The weather was deteriorating and the wind and sea was picking up, making Monarch difficult to control and the crossing of the Channel more uncomfortable for the wounded.[67] An hour later Monarch reported that the water was under control.[68] By 1600, the two ships were off Nab Tower, near Selsey, waiting for a tug to arrive.[69]
The tug arrived and secured to Monarch by 1630. Trentonian came alongside, took off all the wounded from Monarch, and sailed directly for Portsmouth at 1700.[70] The stricken cable ship was taken in tow and was eventually beached in Portsmouth to have the damage assessed.
Trentonian arrived in Portsmouth at 1755 and secured alongside Pitch House Jetty.[71] A long line of military ambulances were waiting for them, along with doctors and nurses.[72] First to leave the ship was the body of Captain Troops. He was gently carried across Trentonian’s gangway and placed in a waiting ambulance. Those crew members not detailed to assist the wounded lined Trentonian’s rails watching the sombre activities on the jetty. The ship’s mascot, A.B. O’Brian, joined his shipmates at the gangway.
All the wounded had been removed from the ship by 2000, and Trentonian cleared Pitch House Jetty and anchored in a remote section of Portsmouth Harbour.[73] Several dignitaries, “stuffed shirts” as described by the crew, boarded Trentonian. The crew was gathered together, and in no uncertain terms they were told to keep their mouths shut and not discuss this incident with anyone.[74] Incident reports were filed, but the court martial that Harrison had demanded never took place; the entire event was kept secret.
The death notices sent to the families of the men killed in the attack had no details of the circumstances. Captain Troops’s family had no knowledge of the events of his death until they contacted the author of this book in 2002. This tragedy was first reported publically in Canada on December 19, 1953, when an article appeared in the Ottawa Journal written by reporter Jack Macbeth, who had been the navigating officer in Trentonian nine years earlier.
Signalman Jack Harold wrote his final entry in his diary for the day. “We are now anchored in Area 7, near Cowes on the Isle of Wight. I actually got a glimpse of some women when we were at the Jetty! It is the first time the ship had been tied up instead of anchored since the 23rd of last month, three weeks ago. As yet I haven’t set foot ashore in England.”[75]
The crew of Trentonian gathers around the gangway after the wounded had been moved ashore.
Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of the Family of Maurice Campbell.
8: Invasion Operations
There has been very little activity — a few depth charges dropped, a few star shells fired at suspicious radar pips and we saw a destroyer bombed and a pilotless aircraft shot down. Apart from that nothing has occurred in our area.
— Able Seaman Jack Harold, RCNVR, signalman, HMCS Trentonian
The crew of Trentonian was once again confined to ship. Anchored in port, they were close enough to see and smell the land, but too far to step ashore. They used this brief stand-down time to resupply and clean the ship. There was also time for some much needed rest — with Trentonian’s operations so close to the enemy, the crew had been working continuous sea watches of four hours on and four hours off watch. Safely in harbour now, that schedule was relaxed.
Even the ship’s mascot, A.B. O’Brian, did not attempt to jump ship while they were secured to the jetty. The little dog had truly become a full member of the crew. For many of the younger sailors in the ship, O’Brian was a simple and powerful attachment to home.
Personal hygiene, however, had become a bit difficult; the machinery for producing fresh water was again not working and therefore water was at a premium. Water use was again prioritized; the boilers and engines had the highest priority, followed by cooking, then toilets. Hygiene was last.
While in harbour, Trentonian received a welcomed addition to its crew in the form of Surgeon Lt. G.P. West, Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). Trentonian now had its own doctor.[1]
On June 15, Harrison received orders for Trentonian to proceed to Selsey to meet with a convoy. Along the way, they were to take on fuel from the tanker SS Teakwood.[2]
Trentonian secured alongside the large tanker and fuelling operations commenced. A large, six-inch hose was passed from Teakwood to the much smaller Trentonian and secured to the standpipe. Fuel was then pumped from the tanker’s holds to the corvette’s fuel tanks. The ship’s fuel was very thick and had to be warmed to allow it to flow through the pipes.[3] During fuelling operations, smoking was not permitted.
The entire operation was routine for the crew, and a group of sailors was detailed to stay with the hose and standpipe to ensure all went smoothly. A small party remained on the bridge, as Trentonian was to depart the tanker as soon as fuelling was completed. The ship’s mascot, A.B. O’Brian, was in his usual place on the bridge as well.[4]
While Trentonian was alongside the tanker, a group of American destroyers came through the area at speed. This created a very large wake that hit Teakwood and Trentonian. The oiler was several times larger than the corvette and so was not affected, but Trentonian was tossed about. This caused the fuel hose to rub between the two ships and burst. Hot bunker fuel sprayed from the broken end of the hose and covered Trentonian’s bridge, asdic hut, and upperworks as far back as its funnel.[5]
The three sailors stationed on Trentonian’s bridge dove for cover, but not before they and O’Brian were covered in the heavy fuel. The ship’s decks and ladders were now treacherous with the slick fuel covering every surface.[6]
With no fresh water available, the three men were given sea water and solvent to clean themselves and O’Brian. Signalman Jack Harold was one of the three men, and states, “No matter how hard we scrubbed the oil went into our pores and stayed for days.”[7]
This second hardship caused by Americans to Trentonian did not improve the attitude of the men towards their allies. The ship was cleaned and sailed to Selsey, anchoring in the area at 2047.[8]
By 2210, Trentonian’s convoy was formed up. They left Selsey and proceeded towards France.[9] The convoy consisted of large, floating concrete blocks of various sizes, each towed by a tug.
Original planning map of the proposed construction of Mulberry B off Gold Beach in the British sector at Arromanches. Trentonian was assigned escort duties to bring the prefabricated pieces of the Mulberry to Normandy.
Map credit: Department of National Defence, Directorate of History and Heritage, box 83, file 81/520/1650, D-Day — Neptune Maps.
Part of the plans for Overlord was the construction of two artificial harbours off the invasion area. The harbours were needed to land troops, supplies, equipment, and material. It was decided in the early planning stages of Overlord that to attack and capture a port would be too costly in lives and time, as any port would be heavily defended. And even if the attack was successful and the port was captured, the facilities would likely be destroyed either during the attack or by the enemy in retreat, rendering it useless for several months.
The two harbours were to be the size of the Port of Dover and needed to be operational by three days after D-Day. They were located at the American Omaha beachhead, codenamed Mulberry A, and at the British Gold Beachhead, codenamed Mulberry B. Once under construction Mulberry B became known as Golden Arrow, referring to Gold Be
ach at Arromanches.
This was an undertaking of daunting proportions. What would normally take years to construct needed to be built and operating in three days — and it had to be done in two separate locations at the same time. The solution to this problem was planning, prefabrication, staging, and, above all else, secrecy. All of the elements used to construct the Mulberry harbours were built in England and designed for ease of transport and rapid assembly.
The artificial harbours were designed to be built in stages on a strict timetable. The first operation was the delivery and construction of the five Goosberry breakwaters at each of the beachheads. This was Trentonian’s duty when she arrived off Normandy in the early hours of June 7 with its CornCob convoys.
The breakwaters were then reinforced with large concrete caissons, codenamed Phoenixes. The Phoenixes were constructed in England and then sunk in various harbours and bays to hide them from the Germans. When needed, they were refloated and towed to the beachhead to be sunk again. There were six sizes of caissons, ranging from two to six thousand tons.
Outside of the Gooseberry breakwaters were long floating breakwaters called Bombardons. Constructed of steel and two hundred feet long, these were towed across the Channel, joined together, and then anchored outside of the Mulberrys. The Bombardons formed a deep-water anchorage outside of the Mulberry harbour.
Within the Mulberry harbour, the facilities consisted of two areas, a long LST pier with a ramp at the end for the landing ships to secure and unload cargo, and a spot for ships to unload cargo directly onto a pier. This consisted of a series of large floating pontoons, codenamed Spud Pierheads. Each was two hundred feet long and sixty feet wide, and had four legs that could be extended below the pontoon and secured to the seabed, allowing the pontoon to float freely with tide and waves.
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