COASTAL FORCES: Motor Torpedo Boats MTB 'Spitfires of the Sea'

World War II operations

Royal Navy Coastal Forces craft operated mainly in the English Channel and North Sea waters, especially in the build up to the Normandy invasion of 1944. They were also used in the Mediterranean and off Norwegian coastline." They raided St. Nazaire and Dieppe. They were used to attack German convoys and their S-boat (known to the Allies as "E-Boat") escorts, carry out clandestine raids and landings, and pick up secret agents in Norway and Brittany. The coastal craft were manned by various Allied nationalities including Dutch, Norwegian, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealanders."

A number of Captain-class frigates were configured to operate as "Coastal Forces Control Frigates" (CFCF). Operating with Coastal Forces officers embarked and responsible for controlling and providing radar support to groups of Coastal Forces motor torpedo boats intercepting German motor torpedo boats in the North Sea, these frigates were involved in the destruction of at least 26 E-Boats.

By 1944 Coastal Forces numbered 3,000 officers and 22,000 ratings. Altogether there were 2,000 British Coastal Forces craft. Affectionately known as the Royal Navy's "Little Ships", they fought over 900 actions and sank around 400 enemy vessels, including 48 E-boats and 32 midget submarines. They fired 1,169 torpedoes, shot down 32 enemy aircraft and carried out many mine laying operations. 170 of the "Little Ships" were sunk or otherwise destroyed.

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