Operation Catherine was a proposed
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
offensive by the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
's
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 ...
to be undertaken in early 1940. It aimed at interdicting German seaborne commerce with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
and
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
. In particular, an objective was to stop the
flow of Swedish iron ore to Germany.
The driving force behind the project was the First Lord of the Admiralty
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, and the head of planning was Admiral of the Fleet
Lord Cork. Events overtook the proposed operation and resulted in its cancellation.
Plan
Churchill proposed a substantial naval squadron: three
''Revenge''-class battleships, an aircraft carrier, five cruisers, two destroyer
flotilla
A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet.
Composition
A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class ...
s, submarines and supporting auxiliaries. The battleships would need to be significantly modified to resist air and submarine attack to pass through the shallow waters.
''
Royal Sovereign'' would have been fitted with very large bulges to her hull to make her 140 ft wide to increase her buoyancy and thus reduce her draught by even after the addition of of deck armour (some 2,000 tons of armour would be used in total). Only two of her main turrets would be retained, but elsewhere, the elevation for those guns would be 30 degrees. In the new state, her top speed would have been about 13-14 knots in action.
[Brown, DK ''Nelson to Vanguard'' p155]
As well as cutting off German iron ore supplies, Churchill anticipated that the show of force would encourage the
Scandinavian nations to join the war against
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
Objections
The
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed ...
Admiral Sir
Dudley Pound
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound, (29 August 1877 – 21 October 1943) was a British senior officer of the Royal Navy. He served in the First World War as a battleship commander, taking part in the Battle of Jutland ...
opposed the plan for several reasons. The armour plating was in short supply and was needed elsewhere; the three battleships were badly needed, particularly if
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
also declared war; the impact of air power was underestimated in the plan; and the loss of such a squadron would encourage Italy and Japan to declare war.
Cancellation
Despite those cogent arguments and widespread opposition, Churchill continued to push hard for Catherine.
Pound avoided a head-on argument and apparently co-operated while he pointed out problems.
Finally, on 20 January 1940, Churchill cancelled the operation.
See also
*
Plan R 4
Plan R 4 was an unrealised British plan to invade Norway and Sweden in April 1940, during the Second World War. As a result of competing plans for Norway and a German invasion of Norway the same month, it was not carried out as designed. Simil ...
*
Operation Pike
Operation Pike was the code-name for a strategic bombing plan overseen by Air Commodore John Slessor against the Soviet Union by the Anglo-French alliance. British military planning against the Soviet Union occurred during the first two years ...
*
Franco-British plans for intervention in the Winter War
During the early stages of World War II, the United Kingdom and France made a series of proposals to send troops to assist Finland against the Soviet Union during the Winter War, which started on 30 November 1939. The plans involved the transit ...
*
Anglo-German Naval Agreement
The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA) of 18 June 1935 was a naval agreement between the United Kingdom and Germany regulating the size of the '' Kriegsmarine'' in relation to the Royal Navy.
The Anglo-German Naval Agreement fixed a ratio wher ...
of 1935
*
British submarine flotilla in the Baltic
A British submarine flotilla operated in the Baltic Sea for three years during the First World War. The squadron of nine submarines was attached to the Russian Baltic Fleet. The main task of the flotilla was to prevent the import of iron ore f ...
*
Baltic Project
The Baltic Project was a plan promoted by the Admiral Lord Fisher to procure a speedy victory during the First World War over Germany. It involved landing a substantial force, either British or Russian soldiers, on the flat beaches of Pomerania o ...
- a First World War plan for British intervention in the Baltic
References
External links
World War II magazineArticle describing Churchill's plan to convert ''Revenge''-class battleships into "armoured turtles" to invade the Baltic Sea in 1940.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catherine
Cancelled military operations involving the United Kingdom
Baltic Sea operations of World War II
Military operations directly affecting Sweden during World War II
Cancelled military operations of World War II