During the Second World War, on 23 October 1943, two Royal Navy ships were lost in action against Nazi Germany’s navy off the coast of Brittany. Behind their names are hundreds of lives, acts of courage, and families whose stories reach across generations.
“Tunnel” was the name given to a series of British operations against German coastal shipping during the Second World War. This memorial follows the sortie of 22–23 October 1943, often called the Battle of Sept-Îles, and the lives connected to the two ships lost that night.
The cruiser Charybdis led six destroyers from Plymouth. In darkness off northern Brittany, German torpedo boats attacked. Charybdis sank. Limbourne, her bow destroyed, stayed afloat until her surviving crew could be rescued. After a failed tow, she was deliberately sunk.
Their men searched the dark sea, lifted exhausted survivors aboard and helped save Limbourne’s company. Meet all seven ships and the people who carried out the rescue.
Charybdis leads Grenville, Rocket, Limbourne, Talybont, Stevenstone and Wensleydale into the Channel. Their task is to intercept German coastal shipping off northern Brittany.
From Plymouth and the coast of Brittany to the graves and remembrance of the Channel Islands. Explore the places that connect the ships, their people and their families.
Reconstruction previews; the ships are shown at different display scales.
Look closer · Both ships in 3D
A ship comes alive through its people.
Turn the ship, move in close, and choose a station. Learn how the bridge, guns, engine rooms and wireless office worked—and about the people who worked there.
Explore 21 stations on Limbourne and 13 on Charybdis
Those who died and those who survived belong to this history. Search the register to find a person, read the evidence behind their record, and discover the details that families and historians have preserved.
524 names currently recorded. The register is growing and is not a complete list of everyone aboard.
Men from the ships came ashore on the Channel Islands and the French coast. Families, islanders and successive generations have kept their memory through graves, services and personal acts of remembrance.
In occupied Guernsey, the funeral of 19 sailors on 17 November 1943 became a remarkable public expression of sympathy.
The next piece of the story could be yours to share.
A name, a letter, a photograph, a remembered conversation. Contributions help this memorial grow. We review their sources and add information as it is confirmed, preserving the distinction between records and personal recollection.
Explore Limbourne in 3D 
Explore Charybdis in 3D 