Battle of Ushant, aka Battle of Brittany (1944)

The British flotilla were moving westward down the Channel when the German ships were detected by radar just after 1 am on 9 June.

Jones turned his force to meet the Germans, who were by now 30 miles east-northeast of the Ile de Batz. The two flotillas clashed intermittently thereafter, exchanging gunfire and salvoes of torpedoes. Tartar was struck several times, but was able to put out fires and restore her speed. The ZH1 was then engaged by both Tartar and Ashanti, with Ashanti launching two torpedoes at point-blank range. One struck ZH1 blowing off her bows. With the ship crippled, her captain Klaus Barckow gave the order to abandon ship, then scuttled her with depth charges at 0240. Barckow was among the 39 killed. 28 managed to reach France, while the remaining 140 were picked up by the British.

Haida and Huron had meanwhile been pursuing the Z24 and T24 until the German ships ran into a British minefield. The Canadians attempted to detour around it, but eventually lost the Germans. Z24 and T24 regrouped, with the intention of returning to engage the British, but finding they were not being followed they left the scene. Haida and Huron returned to the scene and came across von Bechtolsheim's Z32, which had received a heavy pounding and had lost contact with the rest of the Germans. There was some confusion over establishing each other's identity, but when the Canadians discovered she was a German ship they opened fire. Von Bechtolsheim fled at high speed, but Z32 having sustained heavy damage was driven ashore on Ile de Batz and wrecked.

British Forces
Capt. B. Jones
10th Flotilla

19th Division
Capt. B. Jones
HMS Tartar (F)—Capt. B. Jones
HMS Ashanti—Lt.Cmdr. J.R. Barnes
HMCS Haida—Cmdr. H.G. DeWolf
HMCS Huron—Lt.Cmdr. Rayner

20th Division
Cmdr. K. Namiesniowski

ORP Blyskawica (F)—Cmdr. K. Namiesniowski
ORP Piorun—Lt.Cmdr. T. Gorazdowski
HMS Eskimo—Lt.Cmdr. E.N. Sinclair
HMS Javelin

German Forces
Capt. Theodor Freiherr von Bechtolsheim
8th Flotilla
Z-32*(F)—Cmdr. Heinrich Gerlach
Z-24—Cmdr. Hainz Birnbacher
ZH-1*—Cmdr. Klaus Barckow
T-24—Lt.Cmdr. Wilhelm Meentzen