page_title: Omaha Beach
section_title: Naval component
hierarchical_section_title: Omaha Beach / Plan of attack / Naval component
caption_attribution_description: English: USS Samuel Chase
context_page_description: Omaha, commonly known as Omaha Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, during World War II. "Omaha" refers to an 8-kilometer section of the coast of Normandy, France, facing the English Channel, from east of Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of Vierville-sur-Mer on the right bank of the Douve River estuary. Landings here were necessary to link the British landings to the east at Gold with the American landing to the west at Utah, thus providing a continuous lodgement on the Normandy coast of the Bay of the Seine. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of United States Army troops, with sea transport, mine sweeping, and a naval bombardment force provided predominantly by the United States Navy and Coast Guard, with contributions from the British, Canadian, and Free French navies.
  The primary objective at Omaha was to secure a beachhead eight kilometers deep, between Port-en-Bessin and the Vire River, linking with the British landings at Gold to the east, and reaching the area of Isigny to the west to link up with VII Corps landing at Utah.
context_section_description: Task Force O, commanded by Rear Admiral John L. Hall, Jr., was the naval component responsible for transporting the troops across the channel and landing them on the beaches. The task force comprised four assault groups, a support group, a bombarding force, a minesweeper group, eight patrol craft, and three anti-submarine trawlers, numbering in total 1,028 vessels.
  Assault groups O1 to O3, tasked with landing the main body of the assault, were organised along similar lines, with each comprising three infantry transports and varying numbers of tank landing ships (LST), Landing Craft Control (LCC), Landing Craft Infantry (LCI(L)), Landing Craft Tank (LCT), and Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM). Assault Group O4, tasked with landing the Rangers and the Special Engineer Task Force at Pointe du Hoc and Dog Green, comprised only six smaller infantry transports.
  The infantry transports of assault groups O1 and O2 comprised two US Navy Attack Transport (APA or AP) ships and a Royal Navy Landing Ship, Infantry (LSI(L)). All three infantry transports of Assault Group O3 were US Navy AP ships. Each US transport typically carried 1,400 troops and 26 Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP, popularly known as Higgins Boats), while the British LSI(L) carried 900 to 1,400 troops and 18 Landing Craft Assault (LCA). The infantry transports of Assault Group O4 – all Royal Navy ships – comprised three LSI(S) and three LSI(H), both smaller variants of the LSI(L). Each of them carried 200 to 250 troops and eight LCA.
  The Support Group operated a mixture of gun, rocket, flak, tank, and smoke landing craft, totaling 67 vessels. The Minesweeper Group comprised four flotillas, the 4th comprising nine Royal Navy minesweepers; the 31st comprising nine minesweepers of the Royal Canadian Navy; the 104th comprising ten Royal Navy inshore minesweepers; and the 167th comprising ten Royal Navy coastal minesweepers. Bombarding Force C comprised two battleships, three cruisers (two Free French and one Royal Navy), and 13 destroyers (three of which were provided by the Royal Navy).
caption: USS Samuel Chase, infantry transport ship, part of Assault Group O1
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