HMS Campbeltown:

[Iain]

[blueboyno1]

My father was a chief petty oficer in the navy during WW11 and as a wee boy i used to lie on his arm when he would tell me stories about the war .One of the stories he would tell me was about the original HMS Campbeltown being used in operation chariot as a floating bomb to blow up the dry dock in St Nazaire to prevent it being used by German battleships .Being born and bred in Campbeltown and a navy man through and through he was fiercely proud of the part that the HMS Campbeltown played in the raid.
B.P.1

[Iain]

Hi there ! That must be great souvenirs !

My Dad was also in the navy, (died last week) he was occupied by de-mining the Mediterranean. His only story of “violence” was when his boat got too close to a mine and it exploded..., he was knocked unconscious ! With what you might ask ? Well, normally, most are downed by bombes, bullets or sharks..., he was knocked out by a tin of beans !

PS HIs ship, moored in Campbeltown Loch, permitted him to meet my Mother.

[EMDEE]

No personal memory of the fate of HMS Campbeltown ( USS Buchanan), but in my younger days I bought (on a couple of occasions) an Airfix kit of HMS Campbeltown (the original one) in Duncan Brown's shop. If I remember right, I think I bought a couple of them because I made a mess of the first one.

As far as I understand, the sacrifice of the original HMS Campbeltown was an important event in the course of WW2.