Historical records do not always agree. This project makes its sources and the limits of its reconstruction visible.
Dates, captions and context connect the visual record to the written history.
HMS Charybdis screens the burning aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable during Operation Pedestal, 12 August 1942.
This official photograph records Charybdis screening Indomitable on 12 August 1942. It helps explain her earlier service; it does not show the loss off Brittany.
Explore her serviceAn original black-and-white view of Limbourne from the port bow. Her pennant L57, main guns, bridge, mast and camouflage boundaries can be seen. The exposure date and location have not been confirmed.
A ship photograph supports visible arrangements. A 3D reconstruction also contains interpreted forms, especially below the waterline. The model notes distinguish them.
Read the model evidenceThe war cemetery in Howard Davis Park, St Helier, Jersey, where men from HMS Charybdis are buried. Photographed in 2011.
Graves and memorials connect names with places. This modern view is in Jersey, separate from the wartime funerals on Guernsey.
Explore the remembrance map27 sources
Saved citations and the CSV include the evidence notes. A source’s presence here does not confirm every claim it contains.
The Admiralty’s Battle Summary No. 31 and supporting reports, reproduced in the Charybdis Association’s account. These provide the chronology used for the final-night timeline.
Operation Tunnel · Charybdis · Limbourne · rescueRead the reproduced documents separately from the Association’s later narrative. Recorded times and information reflect the reports available to their authors.
British intelligence report N.I.D. 24/T5/45, compiled from captured German records. It describes the outer escort, its orders and the torpedo attack.
German torpedo boats · Münsterland · enemy observationsGerman claims about targets and damage include mistaken identifications. They are compared with British reports, not accepted as a complete account of British losses.
A reproduced contemporary reference for naval ranks and branches, supporting explanations of the work represented in the memorial.
Naval roles · ratings · branch structureA rank can suggest a kind of work; it cannot establish where a named person stood during the attack.
The project’s structured account of source constraints, approximate clock labels and the limits of the reconstructed setting.
3D scene · opening orders · terrain · model revisions · uncertaintyProject interpretation, not an independent historical source. Later paths are schematic. The model and terrain downloads do not establish measured wreck locations or a verified final-day fit.
Public-domain land polygons supply the geographic outline used by the interactive story map.
Map · Plymouth · Brittany · Channel IslandsA modern, generalised coastline. Place markers and the shaded battle area give context; they do not plot exact wartime tracks or wreck positions.
An introduction to the opposing wartime alliances and their development, placing the British and German naval action within the wider conflict.
Second World War · Allies · Nazi Germany · AxisGeneral wartime context. The ships and events of Operation Tunnel are sourced separately to the naval reports.
Ship identity, class and service context for the wider force. The night’s actions are compared with the Admiralty reports.
HMS Grenville · Force 28 · R97Compiled service history. The actual sailing composition follows the Admiralty account, including Stevenstone replacing Melbreak.
Ship identity, class and service context for the wider force. The night’s actions are compared with the Admiralty reports.
HMS Rocket · Force 28 · H92Compiled service history. The actual sailing composition follows the Admiralty account, including Stevenstone replacing Melbreak.
Ship identity, class and service context for the wider force. The night’s actions are compared with the Admiralty reports.
HMS Talybont · Force 28 · L18Compiled service history. The actual sailing composition follows the Admiralty account, including Stevenstone replacing Melbreak.
Ship identity, class and service context for the wider force. The night’s actions are compared with the Admiralty reports.
HMS Stevenstone · Force 28 · L16Compiled service history. The actual sailing composition follows the Admiralty account, including Stevenstone replacing Melbreak.
Ship identity, class and service context for the wider force. The night’s actions are compared with the Admiralty reports.
HMS Wensleydale · Force 28 · L86Compiled service history. The actual sailing composition follows the Admiralty account, including Stevenstone replacing Melbreak.
Geoffrey B. Mason’s service chronology follows the cruiser through Mediterranean operations to the Channel and includes a note on the Guernsey funeral.
Charybdis · Mediterranean · Operation Tunnel · GuernseyIts casualty number differs from other sources. It is used for dated service events, not as a definitive named casualty register.
Geoffrey B. Mason’s dated service chronology, from ordering and construction to the last operation. Includes archival photograph references.
Limbourne · construction · escort dutyA researched secondary summary. Its casualty and scuttling summaries need comparison with detailed reports and individual records.
A ship history with command dates and operational entries, including references to archival records.
Limbourne · commanding officers · operational entriesCommissioning and construction completion are different milestones. A date on one page should not silently replace a different milestone elsewhere.
Class characteristics used to explain the ship’s general role and armament.
Hunt Type III · dimensions · weaponsClass data does not verify every fitting on Limbourne on 23 October 1943. The design complement is not the number aboard that night.
Gordon Smith’s collection brings together his father’s service history, family correspondence and shipmates’ memories.
Charybdis · George Smith · family records and photographsService details follow Gordon’s published transcription. Personal recollections and unresolved circumstances of death are identified in the profile.
Personal letter extracts preserved by David Allen, recalling service aboard a Hunt-class destroyer.
Wensleydale · training · shipboard lifeYoung states that he left the ship on 21 October 1943, before the final operation. His letters are earlier-service context.
The island’s account of the bodies brought ashore, public mourning and the continuing connection to the ships.
Guernsey · Le Foulon · occupation · funeralsIts overall ship casualty totals differ from other histories. The 21 bodies reported ashore are not the same figure as 19 burials at the 17 November funeral.
A contemporary report of the Guernsey anniversary service, including wreath laying and those taking part.
24 September 2023 · Le Foulon · remembranceUsed as evidence for the 2023 ceremony. Historical ship types and casualty totals in this short report are not used as authorities.
A published Roll of Honour for both ships. The Charybdis and Limbourne sections provide the starting naval casualty entries in this memorial.
Limbourne · Charybdis · named casualtiesA memorial transcription, not a final-night muster. Individual entries have not all been independently matched to CWGC and service records.
David Allen’s independent HMS Wensleydale history site identifies eight American soldiers attached to the operation and describes their experiences. It also preserves Ernie Moseley’s recollection of rescuing a Charybdis sailor.
Limbourne · American observers · Wensleydale rescuers · Ernie Moseley · Stan Guy · James Aster JohnsonRetrospective testimony requires care over spellings and later deaths. Rescuer identities and service numbers follow this history and have not been independently matched to service files. It does not settle discrepancies in totals.
A firsthand memoir used for general context about naval work and daily life.
Life aboard · engineering · daily naval serviceThese are experiences from other ships. They are not a record of Limbourne’s menus, routines or compartment assignments.
Family-supplied Navy Search reconstruction identifies Roy’s official number, rating and Limbourne posting. The profile preserves the original 19 entries and adds eight continuation rows through release on 24 October 1946.
Limbourne · Roy Pelling · 1943–1946 recorded serviceA reconstruction from Payment and Victual ledgers, not the missing individual service record. Missing dates and unclear continuation-page text remain explicitly unresolved.
Sheer lines, half-breadth and body plan for the Dido design, an archival starting point for hull research.
1937 Admiralty design · Charybdis listedClass-design evidence; a legible scan and Charybdis-specific reconciliation are needed. No republication licence has been established.
Admiralty upper-deck arrangement catalogued for the class, including Charybdis.
February 1937 · original class arrangementThe intended five-mount battery differs from Charybdis’s actual four main mountings.
The original design profile supports study of the class structure and layout.
February 1937 · class designNot a surveyed Charybdis 1943 interior. Exact later fittings and compartment arrangements remain to be established.
Royal Museums Greenwich catalogue entry for the ship-specific drawing. Related plans are NPB5788, NPB5789 and NPB5790.
Limbourne · NPB5787 · inboard profileThe catalogue establishes that drawings exist. The model has not been measured against readable copies of all these plans.
The collection brings together photographs of the ships, people and places connected with their story. The externally sourced images link to their catalogue or original file records and carry their own reuse credits. The project-supplied Limbourne photograph has a separate provenance note below. Modern memorial photographs are not presented as wartime scenes.
An original black-and-white view of Limbourne from the port bow. Her pennant L57, main guns, bridge, mast and camouflage boundaries can be seen. The exposure date and location have not been confirmed.
Charybdis seen from the port bow in her wartime camouflage, with sailors on deck. The source dates this Royal Navy photograph to 1942.
HMS Charybdis (88), the Dido-class cruiser lost alongside Limbourne, underway in February 1943.
HMS Charybdis screens the burning aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable during Operation Pedestal, 12 August 1942.
HMS Grenville (R97) underway on the River Tyne in May 1943.
HMS Rocket (H92), photographed around 1945 in her destroyer configuration.
HMS Wensleydale (L86) at anchor during the Second World War.
Sailors sing carols aboard HMS Stevenstone. Lieutenant P. W. Reid plays the harmonium while the Reverend C. G. Gardner conducts.
Shopping among temporary stalls and sheds in bomb-damaged Plymouth, May 1943—the city from which the October operation would sail.
Île aux Moines and Île Bono in the Sept-Îles archipelago off northern Brittany. A modern view of the coastal setting near the 1943 action.
The war cemetery in Howard Davis Park, St Helier, Jersey, where men from HMS Charybdis are buried. Photographed in 2011.
Wooden crosses marking Charybdis graves among spring flowers at the Allied War Cemetery in Howard Davis Park, Jersey, photographed in April 2013.
Sunlight breaks through clouds over Plymouth Sound, with the breakwater, lighthouse and a modern Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship visible. Photographed in 2009.
The grave of Stoker 2nd Class Robert Charles Boddy of HMS Charybdis at Saint-Germain-sur-Ay, Normandy. He died on 23 October 1943.
Roy Pelling holding an identification board. Family-supplied digital restoration and colourization; the original date and location remain unconfirmed.
Roy Pelling, identified by his family, in tropical clothing beside a temple. Restored and colourized; the precise location and date have not been established.
Roy Pelling, identified by his family, holding an identification board. The exact date and location have not been confirmed.
The black-and-white port-bow photograph was supplied during this project’s earlier model research. Its IWM watermark is preserved and the image is reproduced without retouching. The photographer, exact exposure date, location and original collection reference have not yet been confirmed. This site does not assert a public-domain status or grant a wider reuse licence for that supplied copy.
| Question | How it is presented here |
|---|---|
| When did Limbourne enter service? | October 1942. Commissioning on 23 October and completion on 24 October are recorded as separate milestones. |
| Which British ships sailed? | The Admiralty account’s actual force includes Stevenstone, which replaced Melbreak before departure. |
| When was Limbourne hit? | About 01:52 in the British Battle Summary. Times are reported historical times, not UTC. |
| How was Limbourne finally sunk? | Talybont and Rocket carried out the scuttling after the failed tow. Accounts differ on the weapons and sequence; the Battle Summary gives final sinking at 06:40. |
| How fast was Limbourne? | Published figures vary around 27–29 knots. A precise speed is not used to imply certainty. |
Charybdis was the Dido-class cruiser leading Force 28; Limbourne was a Hunt Type III escort destroyer. Charybdis sank after torpedo hits, while Limbourne remained afloat until rescue, attempted towing and scuttling. The Admiralty report’s 107 rescued from Charybdis is not a Limbourne survivor total.
Charybdis casualty figures also differ: Mason’s chronology prints 426 deaths, while the Royal Court’s account gives 464. This site uses “hundreds” in the narrative and links to the named Roll of Honour rather than selecting an unverified total. The memorial brings together separately identified records for both ships, with the evidence shown for each person.
The Guernsey account’s 21 bodies ashore is kept separate from 19 burials reported for 17 November. Likewise, photographs of Jersey graves are not labelled as Guernsey or as images of that funeral.
The geographic map uses Natural Earth’s public-domain land polygons, clipped to the Channel and northern Brittany. The modern coastline is generalised for this scale. Town and island markers locate the story approximately; they are not cemetery entrances or navigation waypoints.
The shaded sea area locates the fighting north of Sept-Îles in general terms. It does not mark either wreck, establish a battlefield boundary, or trace the ships’ courses. Each place links to the reports and remembrance accounts behind its story.
Explore the geographic story →The timeline’s diagram shows the British line-ahead order and the German outer escort’s reported sailing order. Ship spacing and locations are illustrative. The markers remain in formation order while the selected event changes their status; this is not a continuous or precisely plotted track reconstruction.
The westward British sweep of 267° at 13 knots and the eastbound German escort context come from the reproduced British and German reports. Later manoeuvres are not plotted. The attack band indicates an event, not the path of an individual weapon.
The shared register currently contains 524 entries: 55 connected with Limbourne, 466 with Charybdis and 3 with the rescuing ships. Published casualty rolls, survivor accounts, documents and family evidence are identified within the individual profiles. These are register-entry counts, not independently reconciled ship totals or a final-night muster.
The wider-force register begins with three Wensleydale rescuers. A “Rescue participant” category records their role without making a claim about their later fate. Their profiles distinguish the ship’s published report from later recollections and identifications. Other rescuing ships can be selected even while their person records remain to be established.
Mason’s short history gives 42 deaths and 100 survivors. Another account reports 103 rescued, while later compilations count American personnel and deaths from wounds differently. A reconciled, name-by-name final-night muster has not yet been established. Neither a design complement nor a casualty total can substitute for that work.
A final-night muster or pay record; individual service and casualty records; names attached to dated photographs; and letters that can be connected to known people. Contributions are most useful when they include an archive reference, a date, and how the person was identified.
“Published memorial roll” means the name is transcribed from the linked source; it does not imply that this project has independently verified the individual’s full service history. Spelling, ranks, affiliations and memorial details remain open to correction with evidence.
The opening approach follows the reported 00:30 position off Les Héaux, course 267°, speed 13 knots and three-cable spacing. Later movements connect narrative stages schematically. They are not recovered navigational tracks or measured wreck positions.
The scene combines modern terrain with reconstructed ships. Modern coastline, elevation and the light’s reference position do not establish the exact 1943 shoreline, tide, weather or chart datum. The default geographic scale preserves the relationship between hull size and distance; enlarged ships are an examination aid.
The separate educational explorer retains Revision 2 and its 21 sections. The full scene uses a viewing derivative of Revision 3, with revised hull proportions. Its underwater form and several fittings still require original plans. A newer revision is not a claim of complete historical verification.
Charybdis has her own detailed model. Grenville, Rocket, the other Hunts and the five German torpedo boats use class studies. Münsterland and her close escort remain identity or count markers where a supported hull has not been reconstructed.
The full-scene viewing files group equivalent materials to reduce rendering work while retaining their source triangles. Small fittings remain available for examination; geographic and historical uncertainty is unchanged by this optimisation.
These six GLB files supply the twelve modelled warships in the scene. Matching materials are grouped for efficient viewing, so they do not preserve every separately editable part in the model masters. Check whether your application imports GLB.
Each file is normalised to a hull length of 100 display units. To recover the model’s nominal full size in metres, multiply all dimensions by the factor below. The bow points along −X, +Y is up, and Y = 0 is the nominal waterline. These are viewing derivatives; use the model masters and their fabrication notes when preparing a print.
| Model & evidence | Nominal length | Scale to metres | GLB file |
|---|---|---|---|
| HMS CharybdisDetailed ship reconstruction · v0.1.0 derivative | 156.0576 m | × 1.560576 | 5.85 MB · Download HMS Charybdis |
| HMS LimbourneDetailed ship reconstruction · Revision 3 derivative | 85.344 m | × 0.85344 | 3.30 MB · Download HMS Limbourne |
| HMS GrenvilleClass study; individual fittings remain provisional | 110.57 m | × 1.1057 | 0.53 MB · Download HMS Grenville |
| HMS RocketClass study; individual fittings remain provisional | 109.19 m | × 1.0919 | 0.52 MB · Download HMS Rocket |
| Other Hunt Type III shipsShared study for Talybont, Stevenstone and Wensleydale | 85.344 m | × 0.85344 | 0.49 MB · Download Other Hunt Type III ships |
| German Type 39 torpedo boatsShared study for T22, T23, T25, T26 and T27 | 102.5 m | × 1.025 | 0.54 MB · Download German Type 39 torpedo boats |
Nominal dimensions belong to the reconstruction and its cited ship or class references. They do not certify the hull shape, small fittings or final-day outfit.
Limbourne’s explorer uses the existing detailed Revision 2 reconstruction, originally made as a 1:200 print model. The browser asset preserves 80 ship meshes and 171,447 triangles, with 21 educational sections. It shows the ship’s major arrangements and helps explain how equipment and people worked together.
Hunt Type III identity; two twin main-gun mountings; torpedo bank; the broad photographic form of the bridge, mast and funnel; and the ship’s principal external arrangement.
Hull sections and beam; exact equipment stations; windows and portholes; boat types and side assignments; small fittings and final-day aerial detail. Rails and barrels include intentional printing thickening.
The lower hull, propellers, shafts and rudder are not verified against ship-specific hull lines. They can be shown for explanation, but are hidden in the default waterline view.
These tones help separate surfaces. They are not a reconstruction of Limbourne’s camouflage. No ship-specific paint sheet has been established, and the site does not present colourization as original colour evidence.
This is an educational reconstruction, not a measured digital twin, a certified final-day fit or a model of the wreck. It contains no surveyed interior compartments. The guided tours explain the existing geometry and link related naval roles to memorial entries. They do not establish the watch station of an individual sailor. The next step toward higher accuracy is measurement against the Greenwich drawings and additional dated photographs.
The memorial form saves names, accounts, references, a contributor name, relationship and contact email to a private review queue. Submissions are not automatically published. The public memorial is maintained separately, so a request can be checked and sensitively edited before inclusion.
Contact names and email addresses are used for review and follow-up and are not displayed on the memorial. Temporary, hashed network identifiers help limit spam. They are separate from the contribution record and are removed on later submissions after expiry. No advertising or analytics trackers are added by this project.
Only submit material you are entitled to share. Public links and archive references are welcome; original documents are not uploaded through this form. To request a correction or removal, use the same form, identify the record or your submission reference, and state the requested change. Please do not submit living people’s private medical, financial or identification details.
The role explorer draws on the June 1942 Navy List’s branch and rank structure and Harold J. Siddall’s firsthand memoir. Its everyday-life and engineering examples are identified as general naval context, not records of Limbourne’s menus, compartment assignments or watch routine.
Limbourne-specific accounts of Cunliffe-Owen taking command, the motor-boat journey and wounded men trapped in the Wireless Office are attributed to the reproduced Battle Summary and ship report. They do not establish the unnamed men’s identities.
Roy Pelling survived the loss of HMS Limbourne. His family confirms this explicitly, and the Navy Search reconstruction records continued service after 23 October 1943. It identifies official number KX 164423 and Stoker 2nd Class aboard Limbourne from 15 May to 23 October 1943.
Navy Search reconstructed the service history from Payment and Victual ledgers because the original individual service record was not found. The profile preserves the first 19 entries and adds eight continuation rows, reaching the explicit release-to-shore date of 24 October 1946. Missing dates and unclear continuation-page readings remain marked rather than inferred. Shore-establishment entries do not establish every physical movement.
The continuation includes Braganza, Bambara and Formidable. India’s Bombay connection remains provisional for the unsuffixed Braganza entry; Bambara has a documented Ceylon establishment connection. Italy Star entitlement and later Royal Australian Navy service are reported in the family working biography and await independent confirmation. Campaign entitlement alone cannot establish a landing in Italy.
The two restored military photographs were supplied for this update. They are shown at their supplied 1152 × 1536 resolution and labelled as AI-assisted restorations and colourizations. The original identification photograph is retained for comparison. Exact dates and the overseas temple’s location are unconfirmed; the restored board is not used to read Roy’s official number. These photographs carry no wider reuse licence.
Read Roy’s naval profile and service entries →Charybdis’s full-hull model represents the intact cruiser before her loss, using ship photographs and wartime recognition material. Her four twin 4.5-inch main mountings, two triple torpedo banks and distinctive bridge and funnels distinguish her from the original five-mount Dido design. The model offers thirteen educational systems, linked to the final-night account and the crew.
The US Navy’s ONI 201 recognition sheet gives 512 feet overall length and 50.5 feet beam. February 1943 photographs support the major upper works. These references support the overall form; they are not a measured builder’s model.
Four propeller shafts are represented. Body contours, nominal 5-metre draft, shaft offsets, rudder and bilge keels are reconstructed. A wreck photograph supports three blades on one screw; dimensions, pitch and applying that form to all four remain inferred.
Exact October 1943 light-AA and radar details, small equipment positions, boat types and raft stowage remain uncertain. The model notes identify these limits for individual systems. Interior machinery spaces are explained, not reconstructed as surveyed compartments.
The model and its preview are original project geometry and renders. Their display colours are illustrative, not verified camouflage. Reference photographs retain their own rights; the model’s publication does not grant permission to republish them.
The National Maritime Museum’s 1937 Dido-class drawings are important research leads. Their five-mount layout cannot be copied directly into Charybdis. Original drawing images were not available for measuring hull offsets, and catalogue access does not establish republication rights.
US Navy ONI 201, Charybdis group, sheet 50 ↗Admiralty Battle Summary 31 and association history ↗The media archive links to original publishers. Summaries identify the ship and distinguish reporting, recollection and documentary sources. Dates are publication dates where verified; an unknown date remains unconfirmed. Personal testimony is identified as recollection and read alongside contemporary records.
News reports sometimes misidentify the attacking craft or repeat inconsistent casualty totals; those details have not been adopted as settled historical facts.
Browse the press and media collection →This independent project draws on the work of naval historians, memorial transcribers, veterans’ associations, archives and families. It is not an official Royal Navy, CWGC or museum website.
Archive photographs, modern memorial photographs and the project’s interpretive 3D model are identified separately. No generated or colourized image is presented as a wartime photograph.
Research and initial register reviewed: 10 September 2026.