V-weapons vast majority aimed at London; 2,515 reached the city, killing 6,184 civilians and injuring 17,981. Croydon to the south, on the flight path of the V1s suffered severely taking 142 hits. V-2 rocket launching sites were set up by the Germans around The Hague in the Netherlands on 6 September 1944. The first was launched from here against London on 8 September 1944 and took an estimated 5 minutes to fly the 200 miles from the Hague to London where it struck at 6.43pm on 8 September on Chiswick causing thirteen casualties. As the V2 explosions came without warning, the
SS Empire Cymric Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast. The ship was long, with a beam of .She had a draught of . She was assessed at , The ship was propelled by a 5,500 ihp triple expansion steam engine which was supplied by two 3-drum boilers. It drove twin screw propellers and could propel the ship at . In Royal Navy service, armament was 8 x 20mm AA guns. "LST 3010" was launched on 30 September 1944. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 5 April 1945. "LST 3010" was transferred to the Koninklijke Marine in 1945. In February and March 1946,