The Last Surviving Warships Of D-Day

Here’s a list of the last surviving D-Day ships:

HM ML1387 (HMS Medusa)

She arrived 12 hours earlier before the US landings. Once on station, she marked the entrance to the channel for the minesweepers to start clearing paths towards Omaha Beach.

The HM ML1387 (Later HMS Medusa) can be found today at Haslar Marina in Portsmouth Harbor.

HM ML1392

At Gold Beach, another small Royal Navy vessel was doing the same job as Medusa, HM ML1392 was the navigation leader marking the boundary to the minefield channel of the beach.

Built in 1943, she belonged to the 149th Motorlaunch Flotilla on D-Day. She was passed to private hands and was completely rebuilt as a luxury cruiser losing her wartime looks.

Currently, this vessel is being restored to how she previously looked on D-Day.

USS Threat

The USS Threat is an Auk-class Minesweeper that entered service in 1942. She departed from Devon, England on the 5th of June, helping clear channels to be used by fire support ships.

She’s the only veteran minesweeper that still exists today and still serving her original role although no longer with the US Navy. USS Threat was sold to Mexico where she currently serves.

USS Laffey

The destroyer USS Laffey sailed for Normandy on the 3rd of June 1944, escorting tugs and landing craft across the English Channel.

She provided support at Utah beach by bombarding shore targets. Her crew would face the action of Normandy dealing with German E-Boats.

USS Laffey is now preserved as a museum ship in South Carolina.

USS Texas

An old ship in 1944, she was dated around 1912. In WWII, she was assigned to convoy escort duties in the Atlantic and shore bombardment during the Operation Torch Landings in North Africa.

On D-Day, she gave fire support on the Western half of Omaha Beach. She’s been upgraded and modified over the years and became a museum ship in Texas.

HMS Belfast

Commissioned in 1936, she’s a town-class light cruiser with 11,550 tons. During the 5-week action in Normandy, she fired 5,996 6-inch shells.

She was due to be scrapped in 1967 but was preserved as a museum ship on the River Thames in London.