Before Operation Overlord, Texas rehearsed bombardment work with the British battleships Ramillies and Rodney. Royal Air Force aircraft acted as spotters, integrating air observation with heavy naval artillery. One RAF observer judged that the three ships could deliver in twenty minutes an explosive weight comparable to an entire city air raid in which he had participated. The comparison explains why a slower, range-limited battleship remained devastating inside the specific tactical envelope of amphibious warfare.
Notable Point · 50:12-52:33
Overlord rehearsal measured battleship fire from the air
Rehearsals with Ramillies, Rodney, and RAF spotters demonstrated the concentrated destructive power available for the Normandy landings.