Exercise Verity was the only major training exercise of the

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denver, Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the co ...

(WU). Undertaken in July 1949, it involved 60 warships from the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, French, Belgian and Dutch navies. A contemporary newsreel described this exercise as involving "the greatest assembly of warships since the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland () was a naval battle between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, durin ...

Command structure

The command authority for Exercise Verity was the

. Field Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein was WUDO's senior officer as Chairman of the Commanders-in-Chief Committee. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Rhoderick McGrigor, RN, was in overall command of Exercise Verity. At the time of the exercise, Admiral McGrigor was serving as Commander-in-Chief of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

's Home Fleet.

Operation

The 60-ship fleet gathered in Mount's Bay, near

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

, prior to setting sail for the Bay of Biscay for the week-long exercise. Field Marshal Montgomery held a reception on board the flagship, the aircraft carrier . Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands sponsored a cocktail party aboard the cruiser HNLMS ''Tromp''. Field Marshal Montgomery stayed on board the ''Implacable'' as an observer during the exercise. Submarines, including the highly advanced French boat ''Roland Morillot'', made simulated attacks against convoys and naval formations using dummy torpedoes. The exercise included bombers flying from land-based airfields. French and British carriers also launched air strikes, with ''Implacable'' successfully carrying out strike operations against the enemy ("White") aircraft carrier force led by the light aircraft carriers HMS ''Theseus'' and the French ''Arromanches''.Actually sister ships, ''Arromanches'' formerly being HMS ''Colossus'' Naval bombardment and convoy escort operations were also carried out. Finally, motor torpedo craft of the Belgian Navy joined other Western Union warships to execute mine-sweeping operations in Weymouth Bay. On 4 July the White force aircraft (RAF Lancasters and Dutch fighters) operated searches against the Blue force (escorted by French aircraft and British flying boats) as it approached the Bay of Biscay. Later both naval surface forces combined in a simulated convoy - the aircraft carriers standing in for troopships - with Lancasters, Mitchells and Meteors as air cover. Land based fighters and naval strike aircraft practiced attacks with cannon and rockets against the smaller ships and then against the main force of four carriers, the battleship ''Anson'' and supporting destroyers. The same was practiced the morning of the following day. One unusual example of allied cooperation involved the replacement of the outer wing of a Netherlands Sea Fury fighter aircraft that had been damaged by a bird strike. Since the Royal Netherlands Navy did not provide such elaborate spare parts when the aircraft's group deployed to RNAS Culdrose, the damaged Sea Fury received a replacement wing with British markings. Admiral McGrigor summarized the accomplishments of Exercise Verity by noting: "The object of these manoeuvres is to show that we are willing and able to work together in case of aggression ... I can say straight away that it's been a very great success".

Force composition

Major naval units included the British battleship ; the British carriers , and ; the French carrier ''Arromanches''; three British and five French cruisers; and 21 "destroyers and destroyer escorts". Aviation units included Royal Netherlands Air Force with Mitchell medium bombers and Meteor fighters, Royal Netherlands Navy Fireflies and Sea Furies Royal Netherlands Navy at French Maritime Air Force Dornier and Sunderland flying boats and Wellington bombers, operating from Brest and

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

. Belgium contributed fighter aircraft in "a preliminary stage". The RAF forces included

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to ...

and Avro Lincoln heavy bombers, Sunderland flying boats and Meteor fighters. Overall control was RAF Coastal Command. ''Implacable'' carried de Havilland Sea Hornet fighters and Blackburn Firebrand strike aircraft. The British 15th Carrier Air Group operated Fairey Fireflys and Hawker Sea Furies from land bases.

Notes

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *

External links