WesWorld

The large hall was filled with officers, on the podium were the nine Admirals taking part in the exercise, the rest of the hall was packed with the commanders of the ships to take part and their executive officers. Through the pall of cigarette smoke the Commander in Chief of Exercise Nelson, Admiral Sir Martin Eric Dubar-Nasmith, rose to his feet and moved pulled a cord to reveal a large map of the British Isles and North Sea. He picked up his pointer and began the briefing.

“Exercise Nelson will be the biggest peacetime exercise we have undertaken in several years. The exercise fleet will be split into several component parts. Force A will be commanded by Admiral John Tovey, Force B by Admiral Max Horton, Channel Forces by Vice-Admiral James Somerville, Landing Forces by Admiral Sir George D'Oyly Lyon, Escorts and Submarines by Vice-Admiral Bruce Fraser and Flag Officer Air for the entire exercise will be Vice Admiral Arthur St George Lyster.

I shall go through the exercise by Group first. Force A shall comprise the 1st Battle Squadron (Lion, Saint Vincent, Trafalgar, Agincourt, Nile), the 1st Carrier Squadron (Ark Royal, Majestic), the 1st Composite Squadron (carrier Triumph and the cruisers Norfolk, Kent), the 9th, 19th and 20th Light Cruiser Squadrons along with the 12th, 2nd and 23rd Destroyer Flotillas. They will assemble for the exercise start on September 3rd in the Firth of Clyde. From here they will sail eastwards around the Outer Hebrides into the North Sea.
They will be joined by elements of the Force Escorts and Submarines. The 16th Destroyer Flotilla, 1st Coastal Minesweeper Flotilla, 3rd Coastal Minesweeper Flotilla and 1st Sloop Flotilla will act as escorts. Minesweeping exercises will commence from D+1 (September 4th) around Tiree and Coll and extending as far as North Uist. This element of the exercise will test how we screen a large battle formation in confined and coastal waters as well as open waters. Dummy minefields are marked on your charts and the minesweepers will attempt to clear passages through some fields and you will bypass others. During this phase shore-based Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and Coastal Command aircraft will be simulating attacks on the sweeping force. Force A carriers and destroyers will provide screening cover.
Once you’ve passed the fifty-eighth parallel the exercise will shift into Phase Two.

This entails the Force A escorts plus the 16th Destroyer Flotilla, 3rd Coastal Minesweeper Flotilla and 1st Sloop Flotilla defending against submarine attack. Now, any future war operation will involve contact with enemy submarine units. Some will be attacking merchant routes but other enemy formations will target the main fleet and try to break it up and weaken our forces before contact with the main force. Therefore Phase Two will see the 8th, 14th, 4th and 1st Submarine Flotillas making attacks. These twenty submarines will attempt to attack the battleships and carriers from the 58th parallel until you reach Sumburgh Head in the Shetlands. Attack plans are known only to the commanders of the submarines, some will attack in groups, others making lone attacks. Attacks will be made by day and night. It will be long and hard work. Once the Force has reached Sumburgh Head the Force Escorts and Submarines will stand-down, refuelling practice at sea will be held for smaller vessels and on arriving at the Orkney ranges on D+4 live firing for all units will commence on D+5 (Sept 8th). Then Force A will set off for Phase Three into the North Sea which I shall come back to in a moment.

Force B will assemble off the Bill of Portland on September 3rd. Units assigned to Force B are; the 3rd Battle Squadron (Victorious, King George V, Venerable, Vanguard, Vigilant), the 4th Carrier Squadron (Ocean, Theseus), the 1st Heavy Cruiser Squadron (Princess Royal, Princess Mary, Iron Duke, Edgar), the 1st, 2nd and 12th Light Cruiser Squadrons plus the 10th, 26th and 22nd Destroyer Flotillas. Force B will simulate an attacking force heading through narrow channels, such operations are likely in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Strait of Malacca. Force B will be under continual air attack from D-Day until passing the North Foreland. These forces will be shore-based FAA fighter and bomber units and bomber units of Coastal Command. Elements of Fighter Command will also be encountered.

The enemy fleet is the Channel Forces. The 9th Destroyer Flotilla will attempt a nocturnal destroyer attack off the Isle of Wight. Between Beachy Head and Dungeness Point the 4th, 5th, 22nd and 9th Torpedo Boat Flotillas will attempt daytime and nocturnal motor torpedo boat attacks. Channel Force’s goal is to allow us to define the threat these formations pose in wartime and the tactics needed for our own forces to operate in such conditions.

On D+4 Force A shall pick up the assembled Landing Forces off Harwich and escort them to a position north of Great Yarmouth off the Norfolk coast. The Landing Forces will have assembled in Harwich at D-3 and will comprise the Landing Ship Flotilla (Gleneagle, Glenearn, Glengyle, Glenroy) and the 1st, 2nd, 10th, 11th, 14th and 15th Landing Craft Flotillas with a variety of Assault, Personnel and Vehicle landing craft. They will be supported by HMS Malaya, the Coastal Defence Squadron (General Crawford, Sir John Moore, General Pakenham, General Picton, Gorgon) and the 1st Minesweeper Flotilla. While Force A provides distant cover the Landing Force will invade an area of the coastline and carry out a simulated invasion with elements of the 1st Battalion Royal Marines. The carriers of Force A will supply fighter cover and bomber support. This phase shall commence on D+5 and last for two days. At that point Landing Forces will return to Harwich and stand down and Force B will head into the southern North Sea with refuelling at sea for smaller vessels.

The final phase of Exercise Nelson is a battlefleet versus battlefleet engagement. The expected battle is to take place around Dogger Bank. Force A will deploy from the North and Force B from the south, they may move within the confines of the exercise area and after an initial series of probes and screens contact will be established. Whichever Force locates its foe first may strike first using all the assets at its disposal. The force commanders and staffs are free to determine which tactics to use at the time of the engagements. Both forces will be roughly equal. The goal of the phase is to defeat the enemy, destroy his capital units and force the enemy force to retreat to break up. Some officers have commented that this is a re-run of the Great War battles. It is not correct to say that we will refight Jutland but rather try and devise new ways of scouting. Force A will remain under radio silence during this phase while they will make full use of their passive detection apparatus. Both forces may use their radio-location gear once in combat and for searching. Force B will make full use of its passive radio gear with emphasis on radio-location frequencies and it will also test its jamming equipment. Generally Force B is more dependent on capital ships and so will provide a useful tool in evaluating how such units can be handled against a carrier-superior force. At D+10 the exercise will finish and all units will return to their assembly areas for stand down. This should be completed by no later than D+15. During D+11 all capital units and cruisers of both Forces will commence at sea refuelling exercises. Now the floor is open to the Force Commanders to discuss the finer points in detail.”

Interesting read and yes, a huge exercise.

Question: To me it seems Force A will have a problem on D-5 with end of life firing and begin of invasion. Not sure if this is good planning, or am I wrong?

At the Amiraunté Française in Maintenon (Chartres) - Headquarters of the Marine Nationale
"Have you seen this latest report out of Britain, sir?"

"Yes," Admiral Darlan replied. "Looks like Sir Dudley returned from the beach at Brighton with a sunburn and a bee in his bonnet." His aide chuckled, and Darlan leaned back in his chair. "The Rosbif penny-press is just piqued that the Germans are showing growing competence and capability at sea, and they need to beat their chests and roar a bit to remind themselves and everyone else how relevant they are."

"Should we not do something about it, sir?"

"I suppose we could, if we wanted to be insufferable," Darlan said. "But our press won't squall so much about British ships exercising in the Manche as they'll whine about German ships transiting the same waters. No, we'll let them exercise without any hassle - that is, from anyone but the Signals Intelligence Group. When I passed the word on to them, I think I heard some girlish squeals of delight in the background."

Well technically small-scale stuff between Britain, Nordmark and Germany happens all the time in the North Sea but its small-scale co-operartion excercises a couple of times a year.

But we also have our own large excercises. Germany had their turn and now its the turn of RN to turn up some heat. We could run a Far East excercise at the same too if we really wanted to beat our chests.

As an advisory notice all merchant traffic must be aware of these manoeurves. While there are dedicated excercise zones and shipping lanes the Channel will get crowded.

Danmarks Fiskeriforening would like to know if with all that metal clogging up the North Sea,
will there be any room left for fishing?

I think it is well within the rights of Denmark to complain about all those idiots clogging up the North Sea.

...I'm not sure I'd eat anything that came out of the channel, judging from how the water looked when I went there on my cruise.

North Sea was a little (read - lot!) cleaner back then!

Heh, good point Shin.

Don't worry Denmark will have plenty of fish... once we've gone fishing with some depth charges!

Yeah! Throw all your depth charges into the North Sea and scoop all the fish from the surface.
'Shooting' Fish in a 'Barrel', UK style.