As the Landing Ship Tank rounded HMS Belfast about 7.30 on D-Day, the cruiser fired a salvo. “They were only six-inch guns,” said Peter Smoothy, writer on the LST 215, “But the blast nearly lifted us out of the water.”
It was natural for Peter to sign on with the Royal Navy. He grew up by the sea at Herne Bay, and he and his brother were constantly out in boats, fishing or just enjoying being afloat.
It was November 1942 when he joined up. By April 1944, he had already seen much of the world.
The first voyage was aboard the Queen Mary to America, on the same trip in which Churchill travelled to see Roosevelt. But his plan was to join LST 198. The vessel travelled up and down the East Coast and then sailed without him.
Eventually he was appointed to LST 215 but had to wait for her to be floated down the Mississippi, from the inland area where she was built. “I eventually joined her at Norfolk, Virginia, where there is a big naval yard about three times as big as Chatham,” he said. “We loaded a few tanks and lorries and did a practice run in Chesapeake Bay. When the tide went out we were stuck on the sand and it took three tugs to pull us out.
“Eventually we had to join a convoy to come across the Atlantic. We had singe barrel Oerlikon guns and one six-pounder. It took 22 days to reach Gibraltar.
“We carried a Landing Craft Tank on our decks. When we arrived at Algiers, we offloaded that, simply by trimming the ship to an angle, until it slid into the water.
“It was from Algiers that we went to Sicily for the invasion, landing tanks and lorries. There was not much opposition. Then we came back to North Africa, and loaded up with tanks and troops before setting off again. We got lost in a fog and found ourselves in a minefield. Mines were popping up all over the place and our skipper decided they would make ideal target practice for our gunners. Eventually we arrived at Taranto, Italy, which was already under the control of the British.”
LST 215 was then given orders to head through the Suez Canal, and across the Indian Ocean to Bombay. From there they travelled round the Indian coast to Calcutta, where they came under a heavy bombing attack from the Japanese. But no serious damage was incurred.
D-Day was now on the horizon, and the ship was called back to the UK, arriving at Portsmouth in February 1944. “We were given some leave,” said Peter, “then began practicing for D-Day, picking up tanks, lorries and troops and then dropping them at various points on the Dorset and Devon coasts. German E-boats were a constant danger.
“About a week before D-Day we loaded up with tanks, lorries and troops for the invasion. The ship was sealed and no-one was allowed ashore. Being flat-bottomed the vessel was pretty uncomfortable in rough weather and many of the troops were seasick. Luckily that’s not something I ever suffered from.
“Eventually we set off at 5.30pm on June 5th. Everyone was on the move. There were ships everywhere, it didn’t matter which way you looked. Steadily we went across the channel in convoy.
“As you got near you could hear all the guns going. Battleships and cruisers were firing all the time. We had to drop anchor about a mile or so offshore, because they were too busy on the beach to deal with us.
“We had towed a Rhino across. That’s a big flat raft about 100ft long and 50 ft wide, that could float in just a few inches of water. We had to manoeuvre these, round to the front of the ship, so that vehicles could be unloaded onto them. They had a couple of big outboard motors at the stern, which would drive them onto the shore.
“We managed one load like that, but it proved too difficult to marry the Rhino up to the front of the LST so we abandoned that idea. By then it was possibly to go in and land everything on the beach. Meanwhile shells were dropping all around us. However, there were very few enemy aircraft.
“We got stuck on the beach that night. Then a posse of soldiers came on board. They were using LSTs to take wounded men back to the UK. They also loaded 300 enemy prisoners who had to sit on the tank deck. All we had to guard them, was six old army rifles. Two members of the crew sat on either side of them keeping them covered. They would only have had about six rounds each. But the prisoners gave us no trouble.
“We got away on the high tide next morning and went straight to Southampton. As soon as we got the prisoners and the wounded off, we loaded up with tanks and troops and away we went again. We went straight onto the beach that time, but by now they were getting the Mulberry Harbour together and there was a special section for us.”
By November the LSTs were no longer needed, so Peter and other staff were sent ashore to the Southampton Naval Barracks, HMS Squid. At the end of the War, he transferred to Chatham.
