USS Texas's Role in the D-Day Landings

Three American battleships supported the Allied landings at Omaha and Utah Beaches on June 6, 1944. One of them was the Newport News-built USS Texas (BB-35). An old “battle wagon” commissioned in 1914, Texas was the flagship for Rear Admiral Carleton F. Bryant’s group of battleships and cruisers supporting the American beaches.

USS Texas (BB-35)

All along Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, the Germans constructed gun emplacements. At Pointe du Hoc, six large 155mm guns capable of covering both Omaha and Utah Beaches made it a prime target. As part of the preparations for D-Day, the Allies bombed Pointe du Hoc in April 1944. Unsure of the results of this bombing and regarding the guns as a great threat, the Allies assigned the US 2^nd Ranger Battalion to secure them on D-Day. Before the Rangers went in, however, Texas would get her chance to knock out these cannon. 

Guns on Hitler's Atlantic Wall

Beginning at 5:50 A.M. on June 6, Texas fired over two hundred 14” shells at Pointe du Hoc. This fire gouged craters into the landscape, turning it into something resembling the surface of the moon.  The shells hit several gun emplacements, but there was no return fire from these positions. When the Rangers captured Pointe du Hoc, they found the emplacements empty. They later discovered the guns in a field and destroyed several of them.

Pointe du Hoc. Note the crater-like surface of the land.

Two minutes after the first barrage, Texas' main guns shifted to targets at the western edge of Omaha Beach. The ship's secondary guns targeted key areas defending the beach exits, including trying to destroy the anti-tank wall. Just past noon, Texas came closer to shore (about 3,000 yards out) and added her firepower to the fight around exit D-1.

USS Texas stayed on station for most of the next two weeks, providing fire support until the main fighting moved beyond the range of her guns. Although she did not destroy all the gun emplacements, this naval vessel and others helped clear obstacles, kept the enemy seeking cover, and helped get the Allied soldiers off the beach.

(Note: This blog post was written by HRNM Educator Elijah Palmer.)

The Destroyers that Supported the D-Day Invasion

By Elijah Palmer
Hampton Roads Naval Museum Educator

During the Allied landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944, fire support from naval ships provided cover for the troops. Due to the failure of the initial Allied bombing of the beaches, the fortifications and obstacles were still largely in place on the morning of June 6. In addition, many of the amphibious Sherman tanks who were tasked with helping the soldiers get off the beach were swamped or otherwise lost on the approach to the beaches. It was up to the Navy to try to silence most of the guns in this part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, as well as opening up exits off the beach.

The Germans placed large guns like this one in fortifications along the Atlantic Wall.

The Navy's small destroyers took position on the front line of this fire support. With their shallow draft, they were able to come closer to shore than the heavier battleships and cruisers. Two of these destroyers, USS Herndon (DD-638) and USS Shubrick (DD-639), were built within months of each other at the Norfolk Navy Yard during the early part of the war. They were assigned to the same destroyer squadron and would fight near each other during the D-Day invasion. 

Herndon and Shubrick being built at the Norfolk Navy Yard.

Omaha and Utah beaches were assigned to the Americans. The plan of assault called for the destroyers to come in close to the beach for fire support, flanking the small landing craft. Shubrick was on the western end of Utah Beach during the invasion. The ship soon engaged a gun battery near Grandcamp (near Pointe du Hoc), and dueled with it for nearly 25 minutes before silencing the guns. The men fired on batteries, machine gun nests, and other positions. In just a few hours, the ship’s four 5-inch guns fired 440 shells. In addition to being shelled by shore batteries, Shubrick was attacked by a German plane, but the bomb missed as the plane was pounced upon by British Spitfires.  

USS Herndon (DD-638)

 During this action, Herndon stayed nearby, also shelling the fortifications. There seems to be some confusion over the exact location of the ship during this morning, as some say it was off Omaha Beach and some say Utah Beach. Regardless of the ship’s specific location, Herndon provided effective counter-fire on German positions near Grandcamp that were threatening the soldiers on Utah with accurate fire.

Both these ships, as well as dozens of others throughout the whole operation, assisted the landings by helping knock out strongholds and allowing the men to get off the beaches. Let us not forget the men in the “tin cans” who did their part in securing a victory at D-Day.