During World War II, Operation Abercrombie was an Anglo-Canadian reconnaissance raid on the area around the French coastal village of Hardelot, located south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in the Pas-de-Calais. It had been scheduled for the night of 19/20 April 1942, but delayed until 21/22 April. The raid was largely unopposed but, on review, the benefits were thought not to have been worth the effort. Due to a navigation error the Canadian detachment lost their way and had to abort.
Operation Claymore was a British/Norwegian commando raid on the Lofoten Islands of northern Norway during the Second World War. The Lofoten Islands were an important centre for the production of fish oil and glycerine, used in the German war economy. The landings were carried out on 4 March 1941, by 500 men of No. 3 Commando, No. 4 Commando, and a Royal Engineers section, and 52 men from Norwegian Independent Company 1. Supported by the 6th Destroyer Flotilla and two troop transports of the Royal Navy, the force landed almost unopposed. The original plan was to avoid contact with German forces and inflict the maximum of damage to German-controlled industry. They achieved their objective of destroying fish oil factories and some 3,600 t of oil and glycerine. The force returned with some 228 German prisoners, 314 Norwegian recruits, and a number of Quisling regime collaborators.
Landing Craft Assault (LCA) was a landing craft used extensively in World War II. Its primary purpose was to ferry troops from transport ships to attack enemy-held shores. The craft derived from a prototype designed by John I. Thornycroft Ltd. of Woolston, Hampshire, UK. During the war it was manufactured throughout the United Kingdom in places as various as small boatyards and furniture manufacturers.
Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland or SMN, also known as the Netherland Line or Nederland Line, was a Dutch shipping line that operated from 1870 until 1970, when it merged with several other companies to form what would become Royal Nedlloyd.
Stena Line Holland BV is a subsidiary of Stena Line that operates ferry routes between Harwich and Killingholme on the east coast of England and Hook of Holland and Europort in the Netherlands. The head office is in Hook of Holland in the Netherlands. Apart from during the two world wars there has been a continuous service operating between these two countries, initially by the railway companies serving the east coast of England together with Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland a Dutch ferry company. In 1990 Stena Line had purchased both parts and Stena Line Holland BV came into being.
Completed in 1936, HMS Royal Ulsterman was a 3,250 ton passenger ship which, along with her sister-ship, Royal Scotsman, sailed the Glasgow-Belfast run for Burns and Laird Lines Ltd. During the Second World War, Royal Ulsterman served as a commissioned Royal Navy troop transport, taking part in nearly all of the major Allied amphibious operations of the European war, including the Dunkirk evacuation; Operation Neptune ; and the liberation of the Channel Islands.
HMS Welshman was an Abdiel-class minelayer of the Royal Navy, launched in September 1941. During World War II she served with the Home Fleet carrying out minelaying operations, before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in mid-1942 for the Malta Convoys. She also saw service during Operation Torch. The ship was torpedoed and sunk off Tobruk by the German submarine U-617 on 1 February 1943, with the loss of 157 lives.
Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland was a Dutch ferry operator that ran services from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom between 1875 and 1989.
Charlotte Cords was a cargo ship that was built in 1923 by Neptun AG, Rostock for German owners. She was seized by the Allies in Travemünde in May 1945, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Connah. In 1946, she was allocated to the Soviet Government and renamed Nikolai Bauman. The ship was scuttled while carrying a cargo of nuclear waste in 1964.
HMS Princess Beatrix was a commando troop ship of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Built as a civilian passenger liner in 1939, she was named the MS Prinses Beatrix, after Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, and operated by Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (SMZ) between Flushing and Harwich, along with her sister ship, MS Koningin Emma. After fleeing to Britain after the German invasion in 1940, she was requisitioned by the British Ministry of War Transport, renamed HMS Princess Beatrix and converted to a troopship at Harland and Wolff's yard in Belfast. During the war her main role was transporting British Commandos, and she participated in the Lofoten Islands Raid and the Dieppe Raid. She had the advantage of a high speed that allowed hit and run operations. Later designated as a landing ship, infantry (medium) she took part in the landings in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, and southern France. In 1946 Princess Beatrix was returned to her owners and continued to operate as ferry from Hook of Holland until 1969, when she was scrapped in Antwerp, Belgium.
HNLMS De Ruyter was a Koningin Regentes-class coastal defence ship (pantserschip) of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The ship was built by the Maatschappij voor Scheeps- en Werktuigbouw Fijenoord in Rotterdam just after the turn of the 20th century. The ship participated in two colonial expeditions in the Dutch East Indies. She made several journeys to show the flag and was finally decommissioned in 1923.
HNLMS Hertog Hendrik was a Koningin Regentes-class coastal defence ship (pantserschip) of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The ship was built at the Rijkswerf in Amsterdam at the start of the twentieth century. She was the first ship in the Dutch navy to be equipped with wireless communication. The ship took part in two expeditions to South Celebes and during the Spanish Civil War she performed convoy duties. During World War II she was captured by the invading German forces and converted into an anti-aircraft battery. After the war the ship was recovered and given back to the Netherlands, to be converted into an accommodation ship.
SS Slamat was a Dutch ocean liner of the Rotterdam-based Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd line. Although she was a turbine steamship, she tended not to be referred to as "TSS". She was built in Vlissingen in the Netherlands in 1924 for liner service between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies. In 1940 she was converted into a troop ship. In 1941 she was sunk with great loss of life in the Battle of Greece.
Christiaan Huygens was a Dutch ocean liner that was built in 1927 by the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij for the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland (SMN). She was employed on the Amsterdam – Batavia route until the outbreak of the Second World War. Requisitioned as a troopship, she was employed in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. Surviving the end of the war in Europe, she struck a mine in the Scheldt on 26 August 1945 and was beached. She broke in two on 5 September and was declared a total loss.
HS Koningin Regentes was a Dutch hospital ship that was torpedoed by the Imperial German Navy submarine SM UB-107 on 6 June 1918 while returning to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from Boston, Lincolnshire, England.
RMS Andes was a 26,689 GRT steam turbine Royal Mail Ship, ocean liner, cruise ship, and the flagship of the Royal Mail Lines fleet. She was the second Royal Mail ship to be named after the South American Andes mountain range. The first RMS Andes was an A-class liner launched in 1913. In 1929 that RMS Andes was converted into a cruise ship and renamed Atlantis.
Queenborough Pier railway station was a railway station opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1863. Initially serving for freight, it was extended in 1876 and opened for passengers. The passenger service ceased in 1914, due to World War I, although Admiralty passenger traffic continued to use the station. Attempts to reintroduce a passenger service post-WWI were unsuccessful. The station continued to serve freight traffic until the mid-1950s.
SS Costa Rica was a Dutch passenger steamship. She was built in 1910 as Prinses Juliana for Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, which ran scheduled passenger and mail services between Amsterdam and Java.
SS Koningin der Nederlanden was a Dutch passenger steamship. She was built in 1911 for Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, which ran scheduled passenger and mail services between Amsterdam and Java.
SS Aquileia was a Dutch-built steamship that was launched in 1913 as the ocean liner and mail ship Prins der Nederlanden for Netherland Line. She ran scheduled services between Amsterdam and the Dutch East Indies until 1930, when she was laid up.
Netherlands
United Kingdom