Mulberry harbour the armoured vehicles would be able to operate on the beach or become bogged down. The final survey, Operation Bellpush Charlie, occurred on the night of 30-31 January but limited information was gathered due to fog and because German lookouts heard the craft. Further sorties were abandoned. On the afternoon of 6 June 1944 (D-Day) over 400 towed component parts (weighing approximately 1.5 million tons) set sail to create the two Mulberry harbours. It included all the blockships (codenamed Corncobs) to create the outer breakwater (Gooseberries) and 146 concrete caissons (Phoenixes). At Arromanches, the first Phoenix was sunk at dawn
HMS Hydra (J275) naval part of the D-Day landings at Normandy on 6 June 1944. She was mined in the approaches to Ostend on 10 November 1944. She was towed to Sheerness but declared a constructive total loss and not repaired. She was sold for scrap and arrived at the yard of Thos W Ward in Grays, Essex to be broken up in 1947. HMS Hydra (J275) HMS "Hydra" was a reciprocating engine-powered built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was badly damaged during the war and was scrapped in 1947. The reciprocating group displaced at standard load and