Exercise Verity was the only major training exercise of the

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...

(WU). Undertaken in July 1949, it involved 60 warships from the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, French,

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

navies. A contemporary newsreel described this exercise as involving "the greatest assembly of warships since the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy ...

Command structure

The command authority for Exercise Verity was the

. Field Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein was WUDO's senior officer as Chairman of the Commanders-in-Chief Committee. Admiral of the Fleet Sir

Rhoderick McGrigor Admiral of the Fleet Sir Rhoderick Robert McGrigor (12 April 1893 – 3 December 1959) was a senior Royal Navy officer. He fought in the First World War and saw action during the Gallipoli Campaign and then the Battle of Jutland. He also serv ...

, RN, was in overall command of Exercise Verity. At the time of the exercise, Admiral McGrigor was serving as Commander-in-Chief of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

Operation

The 60-ship fleet gathered in

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, near

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

, prior to setting sail for the Bay of Biscay for the week-long exercise. Field Marshal Montgomery held a reception on board the flagship, the aircraft carrier .

Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...

sponsored a cocktail party aboard the cruiser HNLMS ''Tromp''. Field Marshal Montgomery stayed on board the ''Implacable'' as an observer during the exercise. Submarines, including the highly advanced French boat ''Roland Morillot'', made simulated attacks against convoys and naval formations using dummy torpedoes. The exercise included bombers flying from land-based airfields. French and British carriers also launched air strikes, with ''Implacable'' successfully carrying out strike operations against the enemy ("White") aircraft carrier force led by the light aircraft carriers HMS ''Theseus'' and the French ''Arromanches''.Actually sister ships, ''Arromanches'' formerly being HMS ''Colossus'' Naval bombardment and convoy escort operations were also carried out. Finally, motor torpedo craft of the Belgian Navy joined other Western Union warships to execute mine-sweeping operations in

Weymouth Bay Weymouth Bay is a sheltered bay on the south coast of England, in Dorset. It is protected from erosion by Chesil Beach and the Isle of Portland, and includes several beaches, notably Weymouth Beach, a gently curving arc of golden sand which str ...

. On 4 July the White force aircraft (RAF Lancasters and Dutch fighters) operated searches against the Blue force (escorted by French aircraft and British flying boats) as it approached the Bay of Biscay. Later both naval surface forces combined in a simulated convoy - the aircraft carriers standing in for troopships - with Lancasters, Mitchells and Meteors as air cover. Land based fighters and naval strike aircraft practiced attacks with cannon and rockets against the smaller ships and then against the main force of four carriers, the battleship ''Anson'' and supporting destroyers. The same was practiced the morning of the following day. One unusual example of allied cooperation involved the replacement of the outer wing of a Netherlands Sea Fury fighter aircraft that had been damaged by a bird strike. Since the Royal Netherlands Navy did not provide such elaborate spare parts when the aircraft's group deployed to

RNAS Culdrose Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose (RNAS Culdrose, also known as HMS ''Seahawk''; ICAO: EGDR) is a Royal Navy airbase near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall UK, and is one of the largest helicopter bases in Europe. Its main role is serv ...

, the damaged Sea Fury received a replacement wing with British markings. Admiral McGrigor summarized the accomplishments of Exercise Verity by noting: "The object of these manoeuvres is to show that we are willing and able to work together in case of aggression ... I can say straight away that it's been a very great success".

Force composition

Major naval units included the British battleship ; the British carriers , and ; the French carrier ''Arromanches''; three British and five French cruisers; and 21 "destroyers and destroyer escorts". Aviation units included Royal Netherlands Air Force with Mitchell medium bombers and Meteor fighters, Royal Netherlands Navy Fireflies and Sea Furies Royal Netherlands Navy at French Maritime Air Force Dornier and Sunderland flying boats and Wellington bombers, operating from

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

and

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

. Belgium contributed fighter aircraft in "a preliminary stage". The RAF forces included

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

and

Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed Lincoln I and ...

heavy bombers, Sunderland flying boats and Meteor fighters. Overall control was RAF Coastal Command. ''Implacable'' carried

de Havilland Sea Hornet The de Havilland DH.103 Hornet, developed by de Havilland, was a fighter aircraft driven by two piston engines. It further exploited the wooden construction techniques that had been pioneered by the de Havilland Mosquito. Development of ...

fighters and

Blackburn Firebrand The Blackburn Firebrand was a British single-engine strike fighter for the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy designed during World War II by Blackburn Aircraft. Originally intended to serve as a pure fighter, its unimpressive performance and ...

strike aircraft. The British 15th Carrier Air Group operated

Fairey Firefly The Fairey Firefly is a Second World War-era carrier-borne fighter aircraft and anti-submarine aircraft that was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was developed and built by the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Avia ...

s and Hawker Sea Furies from land bases.

Notes

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *

External links