Operations of WW2 - L

[spidge]

Operation Lucid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Agar#Operation_Lucid
Operation Lucid

Agar was in charge of the planning and execution of Operation Lucid in September 1940, an attempt to hit the German wooden invasion barges at Boulogne and Calais, France, with incendiary material and set them alight. It was a desperate time and any measure, however risky, that could frustrate the German invasion plans was welcome. The plan had the personal backing of Winston Churchill.
Accompanied by various auxiliary vessels, Agar set off for Boulogne several times in September and October of 1940 with four small ancient oil tankers filled with a special incendiary fuel (called Agar's special mixture). The wartime need for oil tankers was so great that only vessels unfit for convoy work were available to Agar. The very poor mechanical condition of these ships hampered the enterprise. Bad weather or mechanical breakdowns forced cancellation on the first attempts.
The last attempt seemed set to be successful until the command ship with Agar aboard, HMS Hambledon, a Hunt class destroyer, hit an acoustic mine mid-Channel and was severely damaged. She had to be towed back to England, being shelled by German coastal batteries on the French coast on the way back, but without receiving a hit.
The season was now too late for another attempt and, in any case, the threat of invasion had receded.