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 fr ...

offensive by the

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to be undertaken in early 1940. It aimed at interdicting German seaborne commerce with the

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, Sweden,

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 Bo ...

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, and t ...

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, 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 flotillas, 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

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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 F ...

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

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and Japan 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.

References

External links

World War II magazine
Article 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

Plan

Objections

Cancellation

See also

References

External links