Project duration: June 1  through July 30, 2000

Information News update, June 1, 2000             Images from Normandy Updated June 28, 2000 Please visit: The National D-Day Museum Opening June 6, 2000

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, Operation Overlord went into action.  The long-anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-held Europe had finally begun. The invasion plan had been set in motion the day before with Operation Neptune, the naval aspect of Overlord. The scope of this naval action, arguably the most significant and without question most massive in the history of war, is aptly described by author Cornelius Ryan:

“They came, rank after relentless rank, ten lanes wide, twenty miles across, five thousand ships of every description.  There were fast new attack transports, slow rust-scarred freighters, small ocean liners, Channel steamers, hospital ships, weather-beaten tankers, coaster and swarms of fussing tugs.  There were endless columns of shallow-draft landing ships-great wallowing vessels, some of them almost 350 feet long.  Many of these and the other heavier transports carried smaller landing craft for the actual beach assault-more than fifteen hundred of them.  Ahead of the convoys were processions of mine sweepers, Coast Guard cutters, buoy-layers and motor launches.  Barrage balloons flew above the ships.  Squadrons of fighter planes weaved below the clouds. And surrounding this fantastic cavalcade of ships packed with men, guns, tanks, motor vehicles and supplies, and excluding small naval vessels, was a formidable array 702 warships.”    -The Longest Day

More than 50 years later, extensive historical and archaeological research has been conducted at invasion-related sites ranging from the landing beaches (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword) to the German fortifications that defended the shoreline, and the sites of the important battles further inland.  However, no underwater archaeological research has been carried out.  No attempt has been made to correlate the remaining undersea archaeological material with the historical record of the naval aspects of the invasion, which continued for months as hundreds of thousands of troops and their equipment came ashore to liberate Europe from Nazi tyranny.

Instead, the undersea archaeological record of the invasion has been subjected to decades of erosion, beach and shore clearing, and looting by sport divers, all of it virtually unchecked. Faced with the continued loss of the archaeological record of Operation Neptune, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, in cooperation with Naval Historical Center’s Underwater Archaeology Branch, will conduct the first underwater archaeological reconnaissance adjacent to the D-Day landing beaches.  Using state-of-the-art remote sensing detection and imaging equipment, the landing areas will be surveyed from Utah Beach in the west to Sword Beach in the east.   The location of landing craft, artillery, ships, ordinance, and any other equipment from Operation Neptune and subsequent after-actions will be determined and mapped.  The state of preservation of these most valuable archaeological resources will be assessed and recommendations made for further study and preservation.

In addition to conducting a general archaeological reconnaissance of the invasion areas, the location of known losses will be examined with the intent to visually record the disposition of the ship, craft, or equipment.  We know that there were at least 5,000 ships involved in Operation Neptune, and as many as 8,000 support aircraft ranging from fighter planes, to bombers, gliders, and paratroop transports.  The landing craft in the British and American sectors taking part in the action together numbered more than 3,200 LSTs, LCIs, LCTs, LCMs, LCVPs, and DUKWS, not including the specialized vehicles and equipment such as amphibious tanks and bulldozers, Jeeps and artillery.  The venerable battleship Texas was also on hand to lend artillery support to the troops storming the beaches such as the Ranger Force assaulting Pointe-du-Hoc under the command of Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder. 

Presently the Naval Historical Center’s Underwater Archaeology Branch is compiling as comprehensive a list as possible of the ships, craft, and equipment lost to the sea, and has petitioned congress for funds to carry out Project Neptune 2K.  Thanks to the generosity of George Robb, a member of the board of directors of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, a research vessel and all the technical equipment necessary to conduct the reconnaissance has been provided. However,  additional financial support is still needed.

Project Neptune 2K will take place between May 15^th and July 30^th, 2000 and coincide with the opening of the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, LA on June 6, 2000. . It is our greatest hope that this research might rekindle the interest of younger generations and students in America’s history, and that it will also honor the sacrifice made by the men who served and lost their lives defending freedom.

For more information about Project Neptune 2K, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology or the Naval Historical Center’s Underwater Archaeology Branch feel free to contact: