[Saint-Nazaire dry dock]
--Saint-Nazaire, a town that has developed since ancient times as a port city located on the Atlantic coast of France.
――In 1935, the huge dry dock built to build the French super-large luxury liner [Normandy] became an extremely important facility in terms of military strategy when Germany occupied France in World War II. ¡
--For the German Navy, the dry dock in Saint-Nazaire was the only one on the Atlantic side that could accommodate Bismarck-class battleships.
--A large U-boat base was also built here, and a strict defense system was laid as the main base of the German Navy.
[Planning a dry dock destruction operation]
-If this dry dock is destroyed, large ships will have to be transferred to Germany for repair, and it can be expected that the actions of the German Navy will be restricted. The idea was considered.
--As a result, a bold idea was put into practice as a way to break through the strict defenses and destroy the dry dock by colliding a destroyer with a large amount of explosives on the bow and causing it to self-destruct.
--The code name of the operation is [Chariot].
--The destroyer to collide and explode uses [Campbeltown], which was built and obsolete during World War I.
--Large-scale modifications such as thorough weight reduction of the hull have been made to pass through the shallow waters in the harbor, and a 4.5 ton explosive with a detonator is mounted on the bow.
--Two destroyers and one submarine to support this, a torpedo boat [MTB74] that destroys port facilities with torpedoes, and a dozen small craft that transport and accommodate soldiers in charge of destroying and attacking ground facilities.
--622 members of the Royal Navy and the Royal Navy Special Forces (British Commandos) were in charge of the operation and were carried out on March 28, 1942.
[Execution of Operation Chariot]
--At midnight on March 27, a British warship approaching the port of Saint-Nazaire disguised as a German fleet raised the Royal Navy flag and the onslaught from the German army began.
――Campbeltown collided with the entrance of the dry dock at a higher speed while receiving a large number of hits.
――It stopped in the form of riding on the bow.
--The Commandos unit on board Campbell Town also disembarked and destroyed the port facilities and attacked the German defense unit, but many small British boats that entered the port were hit and sunk on the way. The operation was continued despite the great damage.
[Campbeltown Explosion]
--At noon on the 28th, about 36 hours after the British troops withdrew and the start of the assault, it was installed in Campbeltown during the restoration work of the destroyed port and the situation inspection and investigation by German military officials. The explosive was ignited by the detonator.
――The explosion succeeded in completely destroying the function of the dry dock until the end of World War II, and the purpose of the British army was achieved.
――By this operation, 228 soldiers were able to return to Britain safely.
――The soldiers who succeeded in the operation while causing a lot of damage have been awarded a number of medals, including five Victoria Cross medals, and are praised for their honor.
[Model outline]
--The Royal Navy's torpedo boat [MTB74], which was launched in the Saint-Nazaire assault, succeeded in destroying the lock by a torpedo, and then contained and rescued Commados members, but was bombarded and sank immediately after withdrawal. doing.
--This [MTB74] is modeled in 1/35 scale, big size with a total length of 63 cm.
--The details specially modified for this operation, such as the torpedo launcher on the bow and the silencer installed to suppress engine noise, have been fully reproduced.
――Deck parts are screwed to the integrally molded hull for reliable assembly.
――Etched parts that enhance the sense of precision and wires for tension wires are also set.
--One type of decal.
( This is a machine translation. Please allow for possible misinterpretations in the text. )