D-Day Museum

D-Day Museum in Portsmouth to get a cash boost

Last autumn I was privileged to be invited to the launch of a restoration programme of the last surviving LCT (Landing Ship Tank), in the workshops of Portsmouth Dockyard. It was while rubbing shoulders with veterans who served on these craft, and a small number of conservators who were showing us around, that I stumbled upon a good story. Tank Landing Craft are by no means small, as they were able to carry at least ten Sherman Tanks into battle. Curious to know where the LCT would go after restoration, and how it would get there, I spoke to a senior conservator who told me it was destined for the Portsmouth D-Day Museum situated on the seafront at Southsea. It will be towed there by tugs in time for the 75th anniversary of D-Day in June 2019.

The D-Day Museum is well known to me and the complex there is quite small, certainly not large enough to accommodate a ship of this size in its current buildings. Further questioning of my informant drew a blank and a reluctance to tell me more and I now know why. It’s just been announced that Portsmouth City Council and the D-Day Museum Trust plan a huge transformation of the museum in time for this special 75th anniversary. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has allocated £600,000 from the Libor Fund to help meet the total cost of the £4.9 million project to improve the museum’s exterior, landscaping, signage, and building partnerships with Portsmouth City Council have committed a further £378,000. Whether this includes a purpose-built building for this rare D-Day veteran is uncertain at this stage. However, it will require a hefty crane to lift it after a sea passage of a couple of miles, escorted by tugs from the Dockyard Workshops, and to lower it into place at the D-Day Museum The move, a delicate one for a ship of this age, will need to be done on a calm day. I shall keep an eye on how things progress in the interim.

Ken Rimell