Operation Camera
'Camera' was a British naval undertaking by elements of Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser’s Home Fleet off the western coast of German-occupied Norway (6/10 July 1943).
The undertaking, which simulated a large-scale combined operation against the southern part of German-occupied Norway, was intended to cause a temporary diversion of German attentions away from the Mediterranean Sea, where the final preparations for the launch of 'Husky' (i) against Sicily were being completed.
The Allied naval force was divided into four units 1, and this 'combined operations' force approached the coast of Norway on 8/9 July while the main strength of the Home Fleet (battleships Anson, Malaya and US Alabama, US heavy cruisers Augusta and Tuscaloosa, and a number of destroyers) trailed, some 170 miles (275 km) off the Norwegian coast, in the hope that a sizeable German naval force would react and could then be caught and destroyed.
In the event the Germans did not react, although one of their Blohm und Voss Bv 138 three-engined reconnaissance flying boats was shot down by a Grumman Wildcat single-engined fighter from Furious, but an important positive factor gained from the operation was the British appreciation that the Home Fleet’s carriers could now operate with relative impunity off the Norwegian coast with only a negligible threat of any reaction by German surface warships.
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Fraser’s Battle Fleet (the battleships Duke of York and US South Dakota, the fleet carrier Furious, the light cruiser Glasgow, and the destroyers Milne, Mahratta, Meteor, Musketeer and US Ellyson, Emmons, Fitch, Macomb and Rodman), Force 'Q' (the light cruiser Belfast and the destroyers Obdurate and Onslaught), Force 'R' simulating an invasion convoy (the destroyers Opportune and Obedient, the trawlers Bressay, Cape Baracuta, Cape Nyemetzki, Hamlet, Hawthorne, Larch, Macbeth, Oak, Sky and Sycamore, and the motor launches ML-466, ML-276, ML-286, ML-345, ML-445 and ML-452), and Force 'S' (the heavy cruisers Berwick and Norfolk, and the destroyer Scorpion)
Fraser’s Battle Fleet (the battleships Duke of York and US South Dakota, the fleet carrier Furious, the light cruiser Glasgow, and the destroyers Milne, Mahratta, Meteor, Musketeer and US Ellyson, Emmons, Fitch, Macomb and Rodman), Force 'Q' (the light cruiser Belfast and the destroyers Obdurate and Onslaught), Force 'R' simulating an invasion convoy (the destroyers Opportune and Obedient, the trawlers Bressay, Cape Baracuta, Cape Nyemetzki, Hamlet, Hawthorne, Larch, Macbeth, Oak, Sky and Sycamore, and the motor launches ML-466, ML-276, ML-286, ML-345, ML-445 and ML-452), and Force 'S' (the heavy cruisers Berwick and Norfolk, and the destroyer Scorpion)
Basic overview
Start date: 6 July 1943
End date: 10 July 1943
Scope: Minor
Nature: Sea, Deception/diversion
Status: Implemented
End date: 10 July 1943
Scope: Minor
Nature: Sea, Deception/diversion
Status: Implemented