Operation Action of 26 April 1944

The 'Action of 26 April 1944' was fought between British and Canadian naval forces against a trio of German torpedo boats (25/26 April 1944).

The British undertaking was part of 'Tunnel' (ii), which comprised Allied light cruiser and destroyer sweeps of the coast of Brittany in preparation for 'Overlord'. On the night of 25/26 April, a sweep was conducted by the 'Dido class cruiser Black Prince and the 'Tribal' class destroyers Ashanti and Canadian Athabaskan, Haida and Huron. The British-led force engaged the 'Elbing' class torpedo boats T-24, T-27 and T-29, of Korvettenkapitän Franz Kohlauf’s 4th Torpedobootsflottille, off the Ile de Batz until T-29 had been destroyed. Kohlauf was killed in this action, and both the other torpedo boats were damaged. T-29 caused some casualties on Haida and Huron before sinking with the loss of 135 men. Haida and Ashanti collided with each other near the end of the action.