More reminders of a terrible war not so long ago

From the Golf of Morbihan I sailed the 30 odd miles to St Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire river where I would pick up Melanie on Friday. The coast is exposed here so there is little option other than marinas; at St Nazaire the 'marina' is in the ship building basin. I had to go through a lock to get in, always a bit of a tense procedure but doubly so single handed. I picked a tide time when there would be minimum water flow in the lock which is what throws the boat around - difficult to control with two - impossible on your own. It passed peacefully enough and I tied up alongside the most enormous pile of German concrete I have seen anywhere.

St Nazaire was the base for the German Atlantic U boat fleet. A massive reinforced concrete pen was built to house the submarines and protect them from enemy air attack; now the concrete is pealing away on the outer service the incredible amount of steel reinforcing can be seen - impressive indeed and quite an achievement to have built it in such a short time. I estimate that each of the tunnels would take 4 submarines.

The docks were ugly and noisy waking me at 6 with the sound of jet washing reverberating around inside the submarine pens. I decided to hop it and take my chance anchoring; happily the wind is northerly unusually so I am sheltered. I anchored in a very shallow bay to get out of the swell and will dry out tonight - an advantage to a lifting keel!

St Nazaire is a sole less town having been bombed to annihilation in the war and rebuilt in the 1950's but it is at least practical with a very American layout. What a comparison with the medieval towns I have been enjoying so much; no doubt St Nazaire was the same before the war. What a tragedy to loose so much history in such a short time.

St Nazaire was the scene of a famous commando raid during the war. The harbour contained the only dry dock on the Atlantic seaboard large enough to take big battleships; the loss of the dock would force any large German warship in need of repairs, such as the Tirpitz, to return to home waters via the heavily guarded English channel. This is a view along the dry dock now used to construct and repair passenger liners, most notably the Queen Mary 2 - it is a BIG dock! The outer gate is at the far end.

The obsolete destroyer HMS Cambeltown, accompanied by 18 smaller craft, crossed the English Channel  and was rammed into the  dock gates. The ship had been packed with delayed-action explosives, well hidden within a steel and concrete case, that detonated later that day, putting the dock out of service for the remainder of the war. This is the mouth of the dock with the now repaired gate-I'm afraid the photo gives no idea of the size. The gate retracts back into the channel in the foreground to open the dock.

A force of commandos landed to destroy machinery and other structures. Heavy German gunfire sank, set ablaze or immobilised all the small craft intended to transport the commandos back to England; the commandos had to fight their way out through the town to try to escape overland. They were forced to surrender when their ammunition was expended and they were surrounded.

After the raid 228 men of the force of 611 returned to Britain; 169 were killed and 215 became prisoners of war. This memorial stands in memory of those who died.