Battle of Ushant

9 June 1944, English Channel, off the Île de Batz, Brittany

Allied victory; ZH1 sunk and Z32 driven ashore

Three days after D-Day the German destroyers from the Gironde, Z24, Z32 and ZH1, with the torpedo boat T24, set out up the Channel to attack the invasion shipping. Codebreakers gave them away, and in the early hours of 9 June the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, eight British, Canadian and Polish destroyers under Captain Basil Jones in Tartar, met them by radar east of Ushant. The German torpedoes all missed. Ashanti's torpedoes blew the bow off ZH1, which was scuttled. Haida and Huron chased Z32 until she ran aground on the Île de Batz, where aircraft finished her off. Z24 and T24 escaped to Brest. Tartar was hit several times and set on fire but got home. The German destroyers never threatened the beaches again.