page_title: HMCS Prince David (F89)
section_title: Normandy
hierarchical_section_title: HMCS Prince David (F89) / Landing ship infantry medium (1943–1945) / Normandy
caption_attribution_description: English: A second section of infantrymen preparing to go ashore from H.M.C.S. PRINCE DAVID off Bernières-sur-Mer, France, 6 June 1944.
context_page_description: HMCS Prince David was one of three Canadian National Steamships passenger liners that were converted for the Royal Canadian Navy, first to armed merchant cruisers at the beginning of Second World War, then infantry landing ships or anti-aircraft escort. For three years, they were the largest ships in the RCN.
  The three 'Prince' ships were a unique part of Canada's war effort: taken out of mercantile service, converted to armed merchant cruisers, two of them were reconfigured to infantry landing ships and one to an anti-aircraft escort; all three ships were paid off at war's end and then returned to mercantile service.
  In the early part of the war, as armed merchant cruisers equipped with antique guns and very little armour, Prince David and her sisters were sent to hunt enemy submarines and surface ships, tasks better suited to warships. As the needs of the RCN changed, so were the 'Prince' ships able to adapt to new roles. Their flexibility offered the RCN greater scope and balance in its operations. They did not function as did the bulk of the Canadian fleet: no rushing back and forth across the ocean, cold and damp, chained to 50 degrees North.
context_section_description: In the spring of 1943, work was under way on the conversion of HMCS Prince David and HMCS Prince Henry to landing ship infantry (medium) LSI (M). They were reconfigured to carry 550 infantrymen transported in six landing craft assault (LCA) and two landing craft mechanised (LCM), and have large sick-bay facilities for the anticipated casualties. Their old 6-inch guns were replaced with two twin 4-inch (102 mm) mountings, two single Bofors 40 mm guns, and ten Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. The rebuilding, which took place at Esquimalt and Vancouver, was completed in December 1943 and shortly after re-commissioning, she left for the United Kingdom via Cristobal and New York, under Captain T.D. Kelly RCNR, (her final commanding officer) who had supervised the fitting-out of both ships.
  Upon arrival in the Clyde in February 1944, Prince David was taken to Clydebank for a final fitting out. After completion, Prince David and Prince Henry joined Combined Operations Command at Cowes, Isle of Wright. 
  
  At Cowes on 21 April the two Canadian landing ships were joined with their flotillas of assault landing craft. In addition, there arrived within the next few days three Canadian flotillas of the larger infantry landing craft which would make the cross-Channel voyage under their own power. During May, a series of intense, large-scale training exercises took place combining the Canadian craft with many more from the Royal Navy and the United States Navy.
  On D-Day, 6 June 1944, Prince David disembarked 418 troops, including elements of Le Régiment de la Chaudière, Royal Marines and a detachment of British pioneers on the Mike and Nan beaches in the Juno sector. First to be lowered were the two Royal Navy craft which she carried in addition to her own. 
  Their mission was to provide supporting small-arms fire and to clear mines and obstacles in advance of the assault craft. The Canadian landing craft then followed to form up with craft from other Canadian Flotillas. H-hour was set for 7.25, and after a delay of twenty minutes for a more favourable tide in the Juno sector, Prince David's landing craft started their hour-long trip to the beaches.
  Over the course of the day, all but one of her craft had been crippled, sunk or beached high and dry. As the one remaining assault craft made its way back to Prince David, a charging tank carrier forced her over an obstacle, which tore out her bottom and she sank at once. An outbound lighter ferried her crew back to Prince David. With wounded on board and unable to retrieve any of her landing craft, Prince David sailed to Southampton, ending her D-Day involvement. Both ships made four more reinforcement trips to Normandy, one on 18 June and three in July.
caption: A second section of infantrymen preparing to go ashore from Prince David off Bernières-sur-Mer, France, 6 June 1944.
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