Neptune Wrecks

Our detailed research into the formerly Top Secret war diaries and files finally revealed the story behind their sinking. The tanks and bulldozers had been lost from LCT(A) 2428, when she capsized whilst under tow on the morning of 6th June 1944 – D-Day as part of Operation NEPTUNE. The LCT(A) had been assigned to ‘J’ Force as part of the Canadian lead assault of Juno beach and had British Royal Marines and Canadian troops onboard. All onboard were rescued and returned safely to Portsmouth. LCT(A) 2428 did not sink immediately after the capsize, but had floated on for some time before finally being sunk by gunfire from the Rescue Tug ‘Jaunty’.

This project should, therefore, be considered an extension to the original Tanks and Bulldozers Project as it seeks to complete the historical record and document the wrecks as they are today. An update to the initial Tanks and Bulldozers report was produced in 2009 and is attached at Annex A to this Part 1 for reference and as a bridge between the two survey projects. In addition, this report also gives an opportunity to provide details on the further exciting developments of the work previously carried out in 2008 as detailed in the initial Tanks and Bulldozers report of October 2008.

The Maritime Archaeology Trust project has been published here.

Diver Magazine reported this project in it's pages at the time. You can read the two articles online here and here.

In June 2011 the Maritime Archaeology Trust published a report regarding this wreck "An Assessment for Scheduling in the Marine Zone". You can download a copy of it from here.

Upon completion of the project, a presentation was given at the club in 2014.