Canada's Naval History

Second World War (1939-1945)
The Navy in European Waters - D-Day and the Normandy Landings

Over 100 Canadian warships and some 10,000 Canadian sailors supported D-Day, the 6 June 1944 landings in Normandy. Canadian ships and sailors helped protect the invasion fleet, cleared German minefields, and ferried Allied troops across the Channel.

260th Landing Craft Flotilla, Southampton, England

James Grant, the telegraphist (radio operator) on a Canadian landing craft, took this photograph of the Canadian 260th Flotilla's landing craft in Southampton, England.

In this view, the landing craft await orders to launch the amphibious assault on Normandy. Grant served in Landing Craft Infantry (Large) LCI(L) 249, visible in the foreground, until after D-Day, when he shifted to LCI(L) 310. These landing craft were built in the United States, but many had been loaned to Britain's Royal Navy, which in turn allocated 30 of them to the Royal Canadian Navy.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 20020039-001_p13c