11.4cm (4.5in) x 13.5cm (5.4in) x 10cm (4in)
Shell splinter mounted on oak base, applied with a silver presentation plaque inscribed Commander J.W. Hoskyns R.N. / H.M.S. Enterprise / Cherbourg 25th June 1944’.
HMS Enterprise was a cruiser. She supported the D-Day landings on Utah Beach as part Bombardment Force ‘A’ being the lead ship of the sub-group Assault Force ‘U’. During her D-Day operations she fired about 9,000 6-inch shells and required two overnight gun changes at Portsmouth. On 25 June she joined a force under Vice-Admiral Morton Deyo USN to bombard Cherbourg in order to assist American forces attacking from the landward side. A Royal Marines officer aboard Enterprise recalled: ‘Our task force sailed from Portland very early on the 25th of June. On board, we had a well-known journalist and several official photographers to observe. Our allotted targets were the batteries on the breakwater in front of Cherbourg harbour. Enterprise took up station astern of Glasgow. No sooner had we opened fire than the German batteries replied vigorously, straddling us very early on. Glasgow was hit, and a fire started, but she continued in action. American destroyers started to lay smoke screens, but the Germans probably had radar, as did Enterprise. Our Canadian Captain Harold Grant twisted and turned the Enterprise at high speed, handling the ship like an oversized destroyer. Miraculously, we were not hit, but we received quite a lot of splinter damage. One of these splinters seriously wounded Captain Grant, and the ship had to be conned thereafter by the Navigating Officer who was with him on the bridge. Another shell splinter wounded the Commander J W Hoskins [sic], who was in the aftercontrol. The action continued, and it was very satisfying to see our shells falling on and around the breakwater. Eventually, the order was given to withdraw, and the ship was brought back to Portland by the First Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander Brown.’
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