HMS ''Pylades'' was a of the

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 ...

. The ''Catherine'' class was the British designation for the United States Navy's Auk class minesweeper. She was sunk on 8 July 1944 off Juno Beach during the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

. The crew reported two explosions astern, following which the ship sank.BBC Peoples War - Sinking of HMS Pylades
/ref> The captain's report stated that the damage was most likely caused by two mines. A survey of the wreck as part of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's ''

Wreck Detectives Wreck Detectives is the title of two TV documentary series from UK Channel 4 aired in 2003 and 2004 presented by Jeremy Seal, Miranda Krestovnikoff and David Manley. Series 1 - 2003 #Alum Bay wreck, Alum Bay # Earl of Abergavenny, Weymouth B ...

'' underwater archaeological TV series indicated that the damage was actually caused by torpedo attack. Given the date of the sinking these must have been launched from German Marder or

Neger The ''Neger'' (German for ''Negro'') was a torpedo-carrying craft generally described as a human torpedo which could not submerge, but was difficult to see during night operations. The vessel was used by Nazi Germany's '' Kriegsmarine'' betwee ...

mini submarines, which were the only German torpedo-capable units at sea at the time of the attack.

References

Catherine-class minesweepers Ships built in Savannah, Georgia 1943 ships World War II shipwrecks in the English Channel Maritime incidents in July 1944 Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II {{UK-mil-ship-stub