44 NAVY NEWS, MAY 2009
Cockles and muscles
THANKS to the fi lm made about their exploits many
will have heard of the ‘Cockleshell Heroes’ the group
of Royal Marine canoeists who carried out a daring and
successful attack, Operation Frankton, using limpet
mines on German blockade runners at Bordeaux at the
end of 1942.
Little has been written, however,
about all the types of canoe used
The voices
by British forces around the world
The Grove
in a range of operations – of which
A lesson in
the Bordeaux attack was but
Review
of war
one, writes Prof Eric Grove of the
University of Salford.
Much of what has been existing design by Fred Goatley
carrier air
OVER the past two decades there
published is inaccurate. To answer and it emerged as the Cockle Mk
has been a seismic shift in the
the need for a comprehensive and 2, 70 of which were ordered the
historiography of the world wars.
accurate record Quentin Rees fi rst being delivered in September
power
For years, military operations,
has produced an excellent and 1942.
DO NOT, as the old adage goes,
the movement of corps and
ground-breaking work on all types The boats were made of canvas
judge a book by its cover.
armies, the actions of generals
of British military canoe used in which, in the author’s apposite
Pick up Rowland White’s
and politicians dominated books
WW2 in The Cockleshell Canoes metaphor, collapsed on the ‘opera
Phoenix Squadron (Bantam,
and studies of the conflict.
(Amberley Books, £19.99 ISBN hat’ principle. Most were built
£18.99 ISBN 978-059305-4505).
Yet increasingly historians have
978 1 84868 065 4). by another fi rm with aviation
It looks like a Patrick Robinson
concentrated their efforts on the
The fi rst suggestion for the use he use connections Saro Laminated
or Tom Clancy novel. It reads
ordinary experience – Krieg des
of collapsible canoes in raiding in raidididingng Woodwork Ltd on the Isle ork L
like a Patrick Robinson or Tom
kleinen Mannes (the war of the
and other clandestine estinene of of Wight o Wight and wan ere ordered
Clancy novel (which is no bad
little man), the Germans call it.
operations came in n for the Rofor the for yal Marine
thing...).
The result has been some
1940 and suitable Boom PBooom Pm atrol Detachment t
Except that it’s a true story of
groundbreaking books. We’ve had
boats were (RMBPD) for(RMBPD med by
HMS Ark Royal’s efforts to save
Charles Messenger’s excellent
obtained from Combined OperaCombinned tions
a nation.
study of the Army in WW1,
the Folbot folding ing HQ aHQ att Hasler’ s
Yes, you read correctly. For
Richard Holmes’ very human
boat company,, t the he suggestion in July suggeestion
in the winter of 1972, the great
tribute to the Great War warrior
fi rst being issued to sued too 1942.1942.2
carrier was dispatched to the
Tommy, Brian Lavery’s impressive
submarines. The canoes ThT
Caribbean in one of the last acts
history of the RN offi cer corps’ in
These began the began thhe wweere used for
of British gunboat diplomacy.
WW2, In Which They Served.
‘Cockle’ Mk 1 ser1 series,ies, both offensivb e
A long-running dispute
The ‘war of the little man’
the generic term bm being eeing and defensiva e
● A Cockle Mk 7 canoe undergoing trials Picture: Quentin Rees
between Guatemala and British
dominates every one of Robert
adopted for all types of es es of operao tions.
Honduras (today Belize)
Kershaw’s books. He has cast
collapsible canoe in 1942.1942.42. The Mk 2s wTh ere
Construction before being built enthusiasm and excitement in
threatened to boil over with the
his net far and wide in studies
Special Boat Sections of the of the much more robmuuch more ust than the
for the Admiralty by various setting the record straight and in
former invading the latter.
as diverse as Arnhem, Little Big
newly-raised commandos mandos Mk 1 serMk 1 ser1 s ies but this wut as bought
contractors. They were used by fi nding new material.
The British Army was
Horn and his magnificent study
were created to use these se these aatt the pr the pprp ice of reduced speed and ice of red
various small boat users including
He concludes with a wonderful
overstretched and its garrison in
of the first six months of the
boats both in the Middle East and seaawwoorthiness. The boats were still
Combined Operations Pilotage
device, the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ an
British Honduras – rather like the
Russo-German war.
Europe. good enough in rough water but
Parties (COPP).
electrically-propelled one-man
Falklands a decade later – could
At the heart of every book
The war order was not enough the Mk 2 was considered of more
There seems to have been no
‘Motor Submersible Canoe’
not withstand a full-scale attack.
is the fate – and plight – of
to save Folbot from bankruptcy limited utility than the Mk 1.
Mk 4 canoe. The Mk 5 was an
invented by Hugh Quentin Reeves,
The colony would be occupied,
the ordinary soldier. Never
but ‘Foldboats’ of basically similar More Mk 2s than any other
electrically powered plywood
one of the candidates for the
intelligence chiefs warned, “in a
Surrender: Lost Voices of a
design were built by other fi rms. type of Cockle were built, most
development of the Mk 3 built
character ‘Q’ in the Bond novels.
matter of hours”.
Generation at War (Hodder
The best Mk 1 series Cockles by Parkstone Joinery of Parkstone,
in small quantities for the Special
The author has found that this
The solution was to send
& Stoughton, £20 ISBN 978-
were built by the furniture producer Dorset. A later version of the
Boat Sections while the Mk 6
was indeed used during the war Ark and her Buccaneers and
034096-2022) is no different.
H Lebus, an interesting example Mk 2 ‘Canoe’ as it had been
was a more widely used petrol
in Norway and off Normandy and Phantoms as a show of strength.
What did it feel like on an
of industrial mobilisation. offi cially redesignated in 1943,
powered canoe used by the COPP
on inland waterways and rivers in Ark Royal was ordered to
Atlantic convoy or storming
Another procurement quirk was was Operation Sunbeam A, an
at Lake Comacchio, among other
northern Europe as well as quite “proceed with all despatch to
ashore during a commando raid
that some canoes were purchased attack on German-manned Italian
operations.
widely against the Japanese. British Honduras”...
in Norway? Kershaw wonders.
through the Ministry of Aircraft warships at Leros in the Aegean in
The Mk 7 was a light alloy
It was developed post-war
... which was not entirely how
He cherry-picks episodes
Production. The boats were made June 1944.
unpowered canoe designed by the
the Whitehall spinmeisters put it
from World War 2 – Blitzkrieg in
of wood and rubberised fabric,
and its designer even saw it as a
The Canoe Mk 3 was built to
Warwick Aviation Company for
in a press statement: “Exercises
Norway, plans to defend Britain
making them not dissimilar to a rigid plywood trimaran design
use in the Far East, while the Mk
possible nuclear delivery system.
planned for a little while.”
from invasion, the strain of the
aircraft in materiel terms. with advantages of still greater 8 was a four-seater version of the
The Americans also seem to have
The reality was rather different:
Battle of Britain, the exertions of
The boats used in the Bordeaux seaworthiness for use as a sailing Mk 6. The Mk 9 was a motorised
used it for covert operations.
And the reasoning was simple.
desert and jungle warfare, landing
raid were not of this type but a boat. alloy boat whose delivery was cut
There are a few editorial
“The added attack power of the
on the shores of Normandy –
stronger design specifi ed by the It was designed by Norman short by the war and the Mk 10
blemishes here and there and
Phantoms and Buccaneers will
using letters, diaries, memoirs
offi cer who would eventually lead May of the Boat Construction was a four-man version.
there is a crying need for an
serve as a much more powerful
and interviews. “Now,” he says,
Frankton, Major H G ‘Blondie’ Company and William Luard, an All these craft are described
index in what is in effect a major
brake against any Guatemalan
“is our last chance to hear this
Hasler. This boat had to have a RNVR offi cer liaising with the in great detail by Quentin Rees
work of reference but this volume
attempt to put into practice her
generation’s voice before it is
rigid fl at bottom so it could be RAF at St Eval in Cornwall. whose research has been most really is one of the most original,
old claim to British territory,” as
gone forever.”
dragged over beaches. The design was later modifi ed thorough and commendable. interesting and informative to have
one ministry official put it.
That voice is very similar to
The canoe was based on an by the Directorate of Naval One can sense the author’s appeared recently.
And so Ark dispatched two
the voice of today’s warriors. Men Buccaneers on a very long-range
joined the fledging commandos mission to make their presence
two generations ago for the felt over Honduras.
same reason today’s rookies walk Guatemala did not invade in
through the gates of Lympstone.
Wings over the oceans
1972. Or in 1975-76 when it was
Peter Young, a veteran of poised to strike again (Mother
the defeat in France, was fed Nature came to the colony’s
up with losing. He wanted to
NOT one but two oversize
operated than the author’s chapter was no real loss to the RN. The And seeing these great aircraft aid when an earthquake struck
strike at the enemy. Too many
naval aviation books have
on HMS Implacable – a name end of CVA01 – HMS Queen – Sea Venoms and Sea Vixens, Guatemala and dispelled all
people regarded the Germans as
invincible supermen. “If you shot
landed (heavily) in our
perhaps eclipsed by Ark Royal Elizabeth cancelled in the mid- Douglas Skyraiders, Wildcats and thoughts of military action).
or Illustrious, but a ship which 60s – was. Avengers – in their original liveries British Honduras eventually
them, they bled. In a word: they laps this month. was the zenith of British wartime She would have been apogee really does bring them to life. declared independence in
were human.” Until not that long ago David design. of British carrier development, Like Cdr Hobbs’ volume, the 1981. By then Ark Royal had
The image of WW2 commando Hobbs was curator of the Fleet Air In his decades as a flier and designed by the best and the emphasis is on the facts, aircraft passed into history and RAF
ops is very much cloak and Arm Museum and, before that, historian, the author built up an brightest. and ships, rather than the human Harriers were safeguarding the
dagger, men throatslitting he was a flier of some merit (800 enormous photographic archive. “Her loss was the traumatic story of the Fleet Air Arm/Royal Commonwealth state.
unsuspecting Jerries... which isn’t deck landings, a quarter of them at There are some great images beginning to a long period of Naval Air Service. This is a cracking read. Based
very authentic. “The skulduggery, night and he was also instrumental reproduced here. The seaplane decline which has sapped the And also in keeping with on official documents, interviews,
devil-may-care, gangster-warfare in the Harrier programme on both carrier HMS Ark Royal in morale as well as the fighting Cdr Hobbs’ work, Key’s book contemporary accounts, White
kind of things – that was never sides of the Pond). action (she wactactionion (she waas not a ship of capability of the Rooyyal Naal Navy,” the the is accompanied by a vis accompa ery weaves a lively – and complex –
the style,” says one commando. Despite the author’author’s beautybeauty...),...),, trtrials with skids,i author writes scathinglyinngly. comprehensivcompreheensi e narrative narrative on a subject few readers
And as for the dagger which is background, A Century enntury ararrestor wires and a rope restor wi If there is a ggriipe,pe, historhistoryy;; the phrase will be familiar with.
the commando ‘flash’ to this day of Carrier Aviation: n: barbarririer to assist landings er tor then it is that the e ‘illustra‘illustrated historte y’ Phoenix Squadron is set against
“it lay in its concealed pocket as The Evolution on HMS Furon H ious, human side of normally means mally a ‘picture the backdrop of the cold war
an emblem only,” recalled Bill of Ships and some gsome m reat images carrier ops – the book’,book’,k but there’s a (a sizeable chunk of the book
‘Tiger’ Watson of 2 Commando. Shipborne of the wof o orld’s flying experience lot of text in thislot of is devoted to Ark’s NATO role
Kershaw chooses the St Aircraft (Seaforth, first trs ue aircraft or the exertions wwoork,rk making it an and exercises) and the still-
Nazaire raid as his symbolic £40 ISBN 978-- carc rier HMS of the mechanics – – extremely usefulext rumbling carrier debate. Eagle
commando raid. Its course is well 18483-20192) isis ArgusA . rather takes second ndd reference wre ork. had just been paid off. Whitehall
known, its aftermath perhaps not. not an Anglo-centrtric There are also place to technicalcal Indeed, one was toying with the idea of a
Four hundred men left Ayr to work, but an excellent,llent, some gsoome reat diagrams and operationalonal glance agl t ‘FAA ‘through-deck cruiser’ – which
take part in the assault. Only 16 all-embracing study of the y of the of all the vof all the arious signals developments as nanavavall firf ststs in naval would grow into today’s fleet of
returned. “The women stood in airplane at sea. given by flight deck crew to en by y flig aviation. A few more firree first- aviaviatation’ion – which fill flat-tops.
layers in the streets and wept,” And Cdr Hobbs expands bss expands direct incoming and outgoing direct incominm hand accounts would hauld have e four pages afour pageg s t the back of The author is a staunch
recalled David Paton, a medical the definition of of ‘aircrf‘‘aircrafti aftf aircraft safelyi f f l , and mo a vements been very welcome.. this volume – demonstraolume e – tes supporter of naval aviation
officer with 2 Cdo. “Terrible to carrier’ to include all ships which ll ships which on deck.on deck That said, as aas a that most (though not all)t most (thou (something for which we have to
see.” launched fixed-wing aircraft. But this is not a picture book comprehensive historhi t y off innoitvations in air poiiiwer at sea thank Sailor and Jim’ll Fix It –
Such accounts can be found So that means seaplane carriers per se. The hundreds of images carrier operations around the (and quite a few over land) were the latter arranged a day at sea on
on every page of this moving and with their take-off decks such as are accompanied by authoritative globe these past 100 years, it will conceived by men in the RN. Ark IV for young White 30 years
very human book.
HMS Pegasus, the ramps built text which is based on research take some beating. First night bombing mission,
ago).
If you want to know how the
on the turrets of battleship guns, in the archives and libraries of No less filled with imagery first 500lb bomb dropped, first
The 1972 crisis was a salient
ordinary man and woman lived
the spotter/reconnaissance aircraft the world. is Alan Key’s impressive Fleet incendiary dropped, first take-
lesson in the concept of striking
through these extraordinary
launched by capital ships and Hobbs tantalisingly looks at the Air Arm: An Illustrated History off from a ship under way, first
from the sea. Two Buccaneers
times, Robert Kershaw takes
cruisers, experiments with aircraft- ‘might have beens’ – the enormous (Casemate, £30 ISBN 978-1- strategic bombing mission. All
had helped to tip the balance
you to the heart of the conflict – carrying submarines. carrier ‘made of ice’, two-million- 902236-100). Indeed rarely these were down to ‘sailors with from war to peace. As one
although, as he readily admits, he But the crux of the book is ton (!) monster which was, says have we seen so many colour wings’ – one sailor with wings, to Labour MP pointed out in the
can only provide ‘snapshots’ of carrier operations – and there the author “a wartime ‘bright idea’ photographs. Some, of course, you be precise. Charles Samson. He House, “how handy it is to
WW2 within the confines of can be no better guide to how taken further than it deserved”. expect from the last two-three also invented the armoured car. have an aircraft carrier around
350-plus pages. a Royal Navy aircraft carrier The end of Project Habbakuk decades. Quite a guy... occasionally”.
044_NN_May.indd 1 23/4/09 11:30:13
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