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A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project
65th MTB Flotilla
The RCN's 65th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla was in service during 1944 and 1945. Operating British-built Fairmile D MTBs out of Plymouth, the 65th MTB Flotilla was tasked with patrolling Allied convoy routes and conducting striking German shipping along the coast of northern Brittany. The 65th MTB Flotilla first went into action the night of 22–23 May 1944 and engaged a German convoy, protected by E-boats, in the English Channel. The action resulted in two E-Boats sunk, with two members of the 65th killed and several wounded. On 5 July 1944, three MTBs of the 65th attacked a convoy off Saint-Malo. Firing flares to light up the enemy convoy and then launching every torpedo they carried, followed by accurate gunfire, the MTBs of the 65th sunk two ships and possibly a third despite receiving considerable damage to themselves.
Along with the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, the 65th MTB Flotilla was key in enforcing a close blockade of Brittany ports, choking off all enemy movements, and denying the Germans an seaward escape route as American General George Patton's Third US Army swept across Brittany in August 1944. The 65th MTB Flotilla was decommissioned after more than a year of almost constant action with German E-boats, räumboote (R-boats) and armed trawlers along the coast of the English Channel prior to the invasion of France. In the course of 464 actions in British home waters (North Sea and English Channel) Canadian and British coastal forces were responsible for the destruction of 40 enemy merchant ships of some 59,650 tons. (Source: Wikipedia)
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For Posterity's Sake
