This is Lieutenant Porter. We are in the Office of Naval Records And Library on 31 August 1944. Lieutenant Commander George R. Crane of the U.S.S. Tide has consented to talk informally this afternoon.

Commander, would you kindly tell us about your first encounter with mining by air a few days before D-day?

Comdr. Crane:

Two or three days prior to D-day while we were operating from the port of Torquay, on the southern coast of England, all 11 of the AM class of minesweepers were at Torquay inside of the breakwater there. This is a very small, a shallow harbor. In the evening the mine squadron was ordered out for night practice and approximately 30 minutes after we had left the harbor the German bombers came over and bombed the harbor of Torquay very heavily. A number of bombs fell inside the breakwater and still more outside the breakwater in the harbor and its approaches.

It was very fortunate that we had left the harbor when we did because it would have been very easy to have bottled up all 11 of the AM sweeps in the breakwater area and had that taken place, some other plans would have to [have] been made for the assault sweep in the actual invasion itself. Following this raid the AMs, including the U.S.S. Tide, spent the remaining days until the actual invasion sweeping the harbors on the southern coast of England, including the harbor of Torquay,m clearing them in order to allow the ships to go out to make the sorties and the crossing of the channel for the actual invasion landings on the coast of Normandy. A number of mines were destroyed by the minesweepers and the harbors were cleared, of course, in time for all of the ships to go out and make the invasion sortie without incident.

Lt. Porter:

All right, Sir. A good many people have talked to us from various ships and commands involved in the Normandy operation and without exception from the highest echelons down they have spoken of the excellent work of the minesweepers. Could you give us an informal picture of that work as you personally experienced it, perhaps starting with the hour when you left for the Neptune operation finally?

Comdr. Crane:

Early on the morning of June 5 we left Torquay to make the channel crossing and make the clearance sweep preparatory for the invasion of France. In our particular group of ships were all of the 11 AM class minesweepers of a squadron. The early part of the trip was entirely without incident and apparently the Germans did not know that we were making the crossing or made no attempt to stop us. We proceeded until towards dusk when the first casualty to our squadron occurred and the Osprey [(AM-56)] was sunk.

We reformed our column and went on across the channel leading the huge convoy which stretched out as far as we could see behind us and as dusk deepened we streamed our gear for an "O" type sweep clearing a channel in toward the beach. We were operating off UTAH beach and this first sweep was uneventful, no mines were encountered. When we reached the area inshore which was to be used for the transport and fire support area we streamed "O" type gear from each side of our ships and went in for the clearance sweep of the transport and fire support area. The Tide was in the first line of advance in this phase of the sweeping operation.

Because of the fact that we found that the area had not been heavily mined as it was first thought it might have been, it was possible to decrease the actual sweeping operations at this time. Starting at six hours before H-hour we went in close to the beach and carried out the final phase of our assault sweeping preparation for the actual landings. We completed this assault sweep shortly before the loading of the landing crafts were started and when we had completed this phase we left the immediate area and formed a line of defense against E-boat and U-boat operations, protecting and screening the transports and other ships taking part in the invasion.

By this time, of course, aerial bombardment was very heavy and the firing from our own ships was tremendous. We operated in an area close to the Nevada [BB-36]. One of the things that stood out most in our minds at that time was the heavy firing of the Nevada. Every time her guns fired a salvo all of our ships felt as through they were going to be shaken to pieces and we knew from that, of course, that they were laying down a terrific barrage on the beach.

NAZIS DROPPED GROUND MINES

When the first landings started on the beach it was obvious that the Germans had concentrated their mining operations at that time, in a defense inshore, small obstacle mines to destroy landing craft and personnel as they came in. These were, of course, too far inshore for ships of our draft to reach and they could not have been destroyed by any sweeping, by minesweepers. Ass the day wore, on, enemy planes came over and during the afternoon of D-day and the night of D-day the waters in the areas of UTAH beach and adjacent to UTAH beach were heavily mined form the air. The Germans dropped ground mines and nothing could be done about that during the night of D-day.

During the night of D-day the minesweepers of the AM class, including the Tide were moved in close inshore guarding the Carentan estuary, where we were stationed to prevent the egress of enemy E-boats based up the river. There was some flurry of activity during the night in which it was believed that E-boats had made an attempt to come down the river and had been driven back. There was some firing but there were no casualties to the ships during the night time.

Early on the morning, which was June 7, we received an order to go close inshore in company with the Threat, which is the AM 124, and the Swift [AM-122], another of the AMs of our squadron, to make a clearance sweep of the area mined during the night. At that time it was believed that this area had been mined not only magnetically, but with moored mines, perhaps dropped by smaller craft during the night and so quite early on the morning of June 7th, we went in close inshore and made this clearance sweep for "O" type mines. No "O" type mines were encountered during the sweep and at 9:37 we recovered our gear preparatory to leaving the area and perhaps conducting other type sweeping operations.

The Tide had just taken her gear aboard and had come to six knots speed when a tremendous explosion below decks lifted the entire ship completely out of the water. Officers and men watching from other ships stated that the ship was lifted a full five feet into the air. The force of the explosion broke the Tide's back, tore a tremendous hoe in her bottom, tore away all bulkheads below the waterline, and when I went below to ascertain the damage done by the explosion, I found that mattresses from the forward crew's compartment were being swept into the after engine room on the flood of water which was sweeping in very rapidly. That meant that those mattresses had been carried through the forward crew's compartment, the after forward crew's compartment, the forward engine room, the refrigeration spaces, and into the after engine room. As soon as the damage had been ascertained below decks, which it was a matter of seconds only, I went to the bridge and found that there were practically no men of the crew able to be on their feet. All had been killed or wounded, and the greatest percentage of them very seriously wounded.

The Tide was obviously sinking rapidly, and since all of our radio had been knocked out by the force of the explosion, it was necessary to call for assistance by the use of megaphones. Fortunately for the survivors, the Pheasant [AM-61], another AM of our squadron, and the Swift were nearby and came in to help evacuate the casualties, as did the PT boat commanded by Commander Bulkeley. In addition, a Higgins landing boat from the USS Bayfield [APA-33] came alongside and evacuation of the wounded started immediately.

ORDERED MAGAZINES FLOODED

I had ascertained among the first things that the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Allen B. Heyward, of Charleston, S.C., U.S.N.R., was dead, He had died after I reached his side, with the request that I take over immediately.

At about this time, a serious fire broke out aft on the ship, and I ordered the magazines flooded in order to prevent explosion. Shortly thereafter, we were able to bring the fire under control, the magazines were flooded and the ship, which at first listed badly to starboard, now began to settle on an even keel. I, at this time, gave the order to prepare to abandon ship, taking all the wounded, and many of the badly wounded men themselves assisted in evacuating others to the ships alongside. In a few minutes, however, a more severe fire than the first broke out and it appeared that an explosion was imminent. The ships alongside, having taken as many survivors as they could take, then pulled away and the U.S.S. Threat, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Ferrell, U.S.N.R., came alongside to evacuate the remaining men. Commander Ferrell placed his ship to starboard of the Tide so that when the Tide started to capsize, as she did again, she toppled against the Threat; was held and then levelled off again, and we were able to get rid of some of the fuel in one of the tanks so that we reestablished a fairly level condition of the ship. The remaining 17 men on the ship were then evacuated to the U.S.S. Threat and I was taken from the ship to the Threat.

Immediately upon the evacuation of the last of the members of the crew and myself, a line was placed on the bow of the Tide and the U.S.S. Swift attempted to tow the Tide to the beach. However, as soon as a strain was put upon the line, the Tide broke in two and sank in approximately 40 feet of water. This was approximately three to four minutes after the last of the survivors had been taken off the ship.

Of the 97 men taken from the Tide, who were wounded, all were taken either directly to hospital ships or to other ships that took them to hospital ships in a very brief time. The men were scattered among some five or six ships. I, with the last 17 of the men from the ship, had been taken to the U.S.S. Threat, and we were later transferred to an LST which was a semi-hospital ship. We remained in the area for some 48 hours, during which we made a landing in Normandy; we were bombed by airplanes; we struck one small mine; and we were under fire from the beach. We were then returned to England, and by then the other survivors were already back in England, where they were scattered among the various Army and Navy hospitals throughout the country, some being taken as far north as Wales at this time. I myself was taken up in central England, not far from London, but to the north and west, and it was not until several weeks later that the men were in the main part reassembled in Naval hospitals and prepared for their return to the United States.

The first draft of injured men who came back to the United States, left England some five weeks after the sinking. There were 30 in this group, and then other smaller groups left until the last of the evacuations, which were in August. I believe all men, with the possible exception of two badly injured, are now back in the United States. During the time that we were in the hospitals in England, we were given very adequate care and, of course, upon their return to the United States, the men were hospitalized until able to go on convalescent leave. Most of them now are on leave and will shortly return to duty.