During the last high tides, a walker reported the presence, on the east side of Merville-Franceville beach (Calvados), of debris from a Second World War machine. Wednesday October 30, 2024, the deminers, the gendarmerie, the technical services and Olivier Paz, the mayor, were on site, at low tide, in order to remove the remains of a German boat called Negro.
The torpedo launcher, designed in 1943, was in pieces when it was pulled from the sand. 8 meters long, it carried a torpedo of the same length. This was fixed below the cockpit, in which a sailor sat in a dome in perspex
transparent, which allowed visual navigation.
A rare boat
This boat had to approach as close as possible to the target, arm the torpedo and disengage from the area of action as quickly as possible, because it did not have the capacity for underwater navigation. Only 200 examples were used, in the Mediterranean and on the Normandy coast. Its propulsion was already completely electric.
Searches in the sand failed to find the torpedo. What will we do with this new vestige? It's too early to say,”
notes Olivier Paz, mayor.
