HMS Cicala

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HMS Cicala

Kingswear and the Royal Dart Hotel were part of some of the Second World War’s most exciting and clandestine activities as the home of the 15th Gunboat Flotilla: HMS Cicala.

The Royal Navy found themselves badly outmanoeuvered at the start of the Second World War – the German Navy was quicker, more responsive and had a secret weapon: the E-Boats.

The E-Boats were quick, very well armed boats that patrolled the channel – they caused havoc with British and European shipping.

In the run up to the war a number of manufacturers had been pitching the idea of fast attack boats to the Navy, but the hierarchy had all but ignored them – there was only one flotilla of ten badly maintained boats at the beginning of the war.

Their attitude soon changed – by the end of the war 1,800 Motor Torpedo Boats and Motor Gun Boats had been built and there were flotillas all over the world providing all sorts of support to the war effort.

In the river Dart the 15th Flotilla was formed in 1942 – and it was a very special unit indeed.

Based in the ‘Railway Hotel’  - otherwise known as the Royal Dart Hotel  - ‘HMS Cicala’ was a base of operations for a series of daring raids that would become the stuff of legend.

The Free French had a base at Brookhill in Kingswear – and their number included the son of General de Gaulle and the future French President Francois Mitterand. Their knowledge would prove invaluable to the rescue and espionage operations planned for the MTBs and MGBs sailing out of the Dart: .

As the war had progressed, many airmen from the Allies had been shot down over the Continent – and if they weren’t immediately captured they tried to link up with resistance fighters hopefully to be smuggled home. The boats from Dartmouth were one of the main routes back to Britain – but they had to risk everything to pick up their precious cargo. At the same time, the boats were employed to drop off secret service agents, tasked with murky and incredibly dangerous missions on behalf of the war effort.

Over two years more than 100 sailors crewed missions out of the Dart.

A great example of the type of man taking on these late-night challenges was Lieutenant-Commander Peter Williams, a man who seemed to have more than the normal amount of nerve and daring.

Williams was commander of MGB 502 and a senior officer in the 15th Flotilla – and he led by example.

In a number of operations he would leave at dusk, sail to the Brittany coast, before stealthily mooring up, rowing into a beach, dropping off agents or supplies, (at least once carrying the young Francois Mitterand to a perilous mission) and picking up ally pilots and returning them to Dartmouth before breakfast. He invented his own device to find the way back to his boat in the dark using the vessel’s sonar signature in complete silence.

Williams also kept his nerve a number of times whilst under fire – not returning fire and continuing on his course in such a confident manner that German vessels actually stopped firing and assumed he was friendly!

The boats sailing from Cicala  - which was once declared ‘sunk’ by Lord Haw Haw in one of his infamous broadcasts – also made use of German call signs obtained after British codebreakers unlocked the Enigma Machine code. When hailed, the British MGBs and MTBs would reply with what they thought was the correct signal and then hope like hell the Germans didn’t come closer to investigate.

Scores of missions were run out of the Dart – and a number went wrong, resulting in death or injury for the brave sailors taking part. The vast majority, however, were a great success and contributed hugely to the fight against the Germans.

One sailor, Alfred F. Harris, a Seaman Gunner wrote a poem, Night Mission 1944, about his experiences sailing out of the Dart. It’s incredibly evocative. It begins: 

“Sombre and Sleek she slipped through the water,

Closing the Enemy Occupied Shore.

Poised to evade the many that

sought her,

H.M. Motor Gun Boat was fighting her war.”

Men, information, supplies and armaments all passed to and from France – all these operations planned and run from the Hotel which still stands virtually unchanged to this day.

Brave men sailed from this harbour, some never to return, sure in the knowledge that they were risking their lives for the good of their country – we are still grateful for their grit, nerve and sacrifice.

First published May 2014 By The Dart