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DARTMOUTH COASTAL FORCES: THE FORGOTTEN WAR IN THE WESTERN CHANNEL
If you stand on the Embankment today and look out across the Dart to Kingswear, it’s easy to see a peaceful harbour - yachts in from the sea, and the familiar to and fro of the ferries. But between 1939 and 1943, this river was something very different. by Jonathan Turner, Dartmouth Museum
W
ithin two years of the outbreak of war, Dartmouth had become one of the
most active small-boat naval bases in the country. What began almost by accident - a convenient deep- water anchorage and the presence of Britannia Royal Naval College - rapidly evolved into a centre of Coastal Forces operations in the Western Channel, home to HMS Cicala, eventually headquartered at the Royal Dart Hotel (pic. below). And Coastal Forces were some-
thing new. Before the war, the Royal Navy had focused on big ships — battleships and cruisers designed for fleet actions. Tere had been almost no preparation for the kind of war that suddenly mattered aſter the fall of France in 1940: fast, close-quar- ters fighting in the Channel, oſten at night, against German E-boats operating from ports just 50–100 miles away. By 1941, that gap was being filled
- and Dartmouth found itself at the heart of it - most people in Dart- mouth have no idea how central this river became to the war, and that sto- ry will be brought to life during the Coastal Forces Heritage Weekend May 8 & 9th (see poster for details).
A harbour at war Te transformation was rapid and dramatic. Te river filled with small 80 to 110 ſt long warships: Motor Torpedo Boats, Motor Gun Boats and Motor Launches. Depot ships moored mid-stream provided fuel, maintenance and accommodation. Hotels and houses were requisitioned. Young crews - many of them Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, civilians only months earlier - flooded into the town. 400 WRNS carried out over 50 roles previously only done by men, particularly the management of the secret intelligence coding offices. And beneath it all was a carefully
organised system. Approaching Dart- mouth by sea in wartime was a very
different experience. Heavy guns at Froward Point covered the Channel approaches. Anti-aircraſt batteries protected the harbour. A boom, managed by a dedicated Boom Vessel stretched across the river mouth to block submarines. Incoming vessels were intercepted by examination parties - oſten in converted fishing craſt - boarded, checked and cleared before being allowed in. Tis was the defensive layer: the protection that made everything else possible.
From defence to attack By 1942, Dartmouth’s role had shiſted decisively from defence: minesweep- ers and anti-submarine sweeps, to attack! Tis was no longer just a protected harbour - it was a launch point. Night aſter night, small, fast boats
slipped out into the Channel to intercept German convoys, challenge E-boats, and disrupt coastal traffic off the coast of France. It was dangerous, close-range fighting - oſten at high speed, in dark- ness, with only seconds to react.
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