16 February 1908 - 29 June 1986 Royal Navy HM Motor Gun Boat 314 Robert Ryder joined the Royal Navy in 1925. On 27-28 March 1942 he led the naval force in Operation Chariot, with the aim of wrecking the gates at the entrance to the huge dry dock at St Nazaire, the only one in western France capable of accommodating the German battleship Tirpitz. The force, commanded by Ryder in MGB 314, comprised sixteen motor launches, a motor torpedo boat, and the destroyer HMS Campbeltown which, loaded with explosives on a time fuse, was to ram the dock gates. It also included 257 commandos, who were to demolish dockside installations. Just before 1.30am on 28 March, Ryder’s force reached its objective, where the Campbeltown succeeded in ramming the dock gates. Ryder remained on the spot to conduct operations, going ashore at one stage to look around. Returning to MGB 314 - by then under intense close-range fire - he organised the evacuation of men from the Campbeltown and the rescue of as many commandos as possible. After being in action for well over an hour, MGB 314, still under fire and full of dead and wounded, at last withdrew and eventually reached England. The Victoria Cross awarded to Ryder was one of five won during the raid. Ryder retired from the Navy in 1950 and served as Member of Parliament for Merton and Morden from 1950 to 1955. He died during a sailing trip to France in 1986, aged 77.

Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

The Papers of Robert Ryder Title The Papers of Robert Ryder Reference GBR/0014/RDER Creator Ryder, Robert Edward Dudley, 1908-1986, Captain Covering Dates 1942 Extent and Medium 1 file Repository Churchill Archives Centre Content and context Robert Ryder was born in India, 16 February 1908, the son of Charles Henry Dudley Ryder and Ida Josephine Grigg. He was educated at Hazelhurst School, Frant, and Cheltenham College. He married Constance Hilarie Myfanwy Green-Wilkinson, 1941, with whom he had one son and one daughter. He served in the Royal Navy, 1926-50. He was a Midshipman in the battleship HMS Ramillies, 1927-9, and a Lieutenant in the submarine HMS Olympus in China, 1930-3. He was also an explorer, captaining the ketch Tai-Mo-Shan on a 16, 217 mile voyage from Hong Kong to Dartmouth via the Panama Canal, 1933-4, and taking part in the British Graham Land Expedition to the Antarctic, in command of the three-masted schooner Penola, 1934-7. He was Lieutenant Commander in the battleship HMS Warsprite; he served with the force of decoy or Q-ships, 1940; he was Commander of the frigate HMS Fleetwood, 1940; he captained the Prince Philippe, which sank after a collision in the Firth of Clyde, 1941; and he was Naval Liaison Officer on the staff of GOC Southern Command at Wilton House, near Salisbury, 1941-2. He led the naval forces in Operation Chariot, the raid on the dry dock at St Nazaire, 27-28 March 1942, and took part in Operation Jubilee, the attack on Dieppe, 19 August 1942. He was promoted to the rank of Captain, 1949, and served as Naval Attaché in Oslo, 1948-50. On retiring from the Navy, he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Merton and Morden, 1950-5. He died during a sailing trip to France, 29 June 1986. He was awarded the Victoria Cross (gazetted 21 May 1942), the Polar Medal with clasp, the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre. His publications include: "The Attack on St Nazaire" (1947) and "Coverplan" (1953). Signals from the raid on St Nazaire The papers were given to Churchill Archives Centre by Robert Ryder, 1977. Access and Use The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required. Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff. Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Robert Ryder, RDER Further information A copy of this finding aid and catalogue is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, the National Register of Archives, London, and on the Janus website, http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk. This collection (fonds) level description and catalogue was prepared by Sophie Bridges, September 2003. Information was obtained from "Who Was Who 1981-1990" (A and C Black) and John Winton, "The Victoria Cross at Sea" (1978). Index Terms France Naval Personnel Second World War (1939-1945) Ryder, Robert Edward Dudley (1908-1986) Captain Churchill/RDER contains: 1 Signals from the raid on St Nazaire. With a pastel sketch of boats taking part in the attack. 1 file. 12 March 1942–28 March 1942

From the Churchill Archives Centre