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Note: all vessels and aircraft are British unless otherwise identified or implied - click for abbreviations |
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Background Events - June 1940 Evacuation of Dunkirk ends, Italy at war, Action at sea in the Mediterranean, France falls
1940
Saturday, 1 June Anti-aircraft
cruiser Destroyer IVANHOE
was badly damaged at 0805 by German bombing at Destroyer KEITH was damaged by the near miss of
an air bomb at Tug ST ABBS was lost later on the 1st
with the survivors still on board and one hundred navy and army personnel
were lost in the tug. Destroyer HAVANT was badly damaged at 0905 in
German bombing off Destroyer BASILISK was immobilised by near
misses from German bombing at 0800. She was then badly damaged by German
bombing at Destroyer Minesweeper SKIPJACK of the 6th Minesweeping
Flotilla was sunk by five direct hits from German bombing at French destroyer FOUDROYANT, which departed Minesweeper HEBE
was damaged by the near miss of German air bombs at Minesweeper
HALCYON was machine gunned by a German aircraft at Gunboat
MOSQUITO was badly damaged at 1030
by German bombing off Patrol
sloop KINGFISHER was damaged by the near miss of German air bombs at Destroyer
WORCESTER was badly damaged by German bombing at Destroyer
HARVESTER was damaged by near misses of air bombs and forced to return to
Sheerness. At 1409/3rd, she departed ggg Destroyers
VENOMOUS, VIMY, VIVACIOUS and minesweeper SALAMANDER were damaged were
damaged by German bombing at Destroyer
VENOMOUS also damaged her stern at 0040/1st when she collided with the
harbour wall. Destroyer
VIVACIOUS was temporarily repaired at Minesweeper
SALAMANDER departed Destroyer
SHIKARI was damaged by German bombing at Destroyer
SHIKARI departed Motor
torpedo boat Auxiliary
minesweeper BRIGHTON QUEEN (Temporary Lt A. Stubbs The
minesweeper's survivors were rescued by minesweeper SALTASH. French
auxiliary minesweepers DENIS PAPIN (309grt), LA MOUSSAILLON (38grt), VENUS
(264grt) were sunk by German bombing at Destroyers
ICARUS, VANQUISHER, WINDSOR evacuated three thousand troops from Minesweeper
SPEEDWELL grounded west of La Panne and embarked troops until towed off by
minesweeper ALBURY. Destroyers
WHITSHED, repaired of her damage from the Off
the Bray, destroyer SABRE embarked 451 troops and minesweeper British
steamer Thirty
two crew members and two to three hundred troops were lost on the steamer Her
survivors were picked up by destroyer ESK and drifters FISHER British
troopship ORFORD (20,043grt) was badly damaged by German bombing at The
troopship was set afire and beached. Four
crew died on the troopship and ten were missing. Belgian
tug Anti-submarine
trawler ARGYLLSHIRE (540grt, S/Lt J. S.Weddle Anti-submarine
trawlers ARGYLLSHIRE and STELLA DORADO (550grt, Skipper W. H.Burgess S/Lt
Weddle and four other survivors from trawler ARGLLSHIRE were picked up by
trawler MALABAR. Patrol
sloop WIDGEON near Yacht
AMULREE (89grt) was sunk at 0200 in a collision with destroyer VIMY in the Destroyer
VIMY was out of action. The
destroyer departed Hospital
ship ST DAVID, at anchor off Yacht
GRIVE (687grt, Captain the Hon. L.J. O. Lambart DSO Rtd) was sunk in German
bombing at Dunkirk Roads at 2355. Captain
Lambart, Temporary Lt (E) T. Graham Drifter
FAIR BREEZE (92grt) was sunk after a collision with a wreck in Drifter
LORD CAVAN (96grt, SO Cdr A. J. Cubison Rtd, mine Recovery Flotilla) was sunk
by German shore guns at Her
entire crew were rescued by a destroyer. Tugs
ST ABBS (550grt), with destroyer KEITH survivors aboard, ST FAGAN (550grt)
were sunk by German bombing at Lt
T. E. Brooker Rtd and eighteen ratings were lost on tug ST ABBS in addition
to eighty six passengers. Thirty crew and passengers, including Captain E.
L.Berthon were rescued. Lt Cdr G. H.Warren MBE, Boatswain D. G. Brown, who
was wounded, six ratings of ST FAGAN were rescued by tug TANGA. The rest of
the crew of twenty five were lost. British
sail barges DUCHESS (72grt) and LADY ROSEBERRY (109grt) were lost three miles
east of The
entire crew of the barge DUCHESS was rescued. One crewman was lost on the
LADY ROSEBERRY. British
sailing barges Three
crew and six soldiers were rescued from barge ROYALTY. British
sailing barge British
sailing barges BARBARA JEAN (144grt) and ETHEL EVERAND (190grt) were blown up
and abandoned at Three
crew were saved from barge BARBARA JEAN, the entire crew was saved from
AIDIE, the entire crew was saved from ETHEL EVERAND. In
the tow of two tugs, British fishing vessel RENOWN (9grt) was sunk on a mine
near Sandettie Light Vessel. Four
crew were lost on the fishing vessel. British
steamer Steamer
Steamer
On
1 June, 64,429 troops were evacuated from ______ Destroyer
TARTAR (D.6) departed ______ Destroyer
FORESTER arrived at At
0510 on 2 May, destroyer MAORI dropped depth charges on a contact in 59-10N,
1-10W of Lerwick. Destroyer FORESTER proceeded on to Lerwick with the convoy.
At
1150, destroyer FORESTER was ordered to rejoin MAORI to hunt the submarine. Both
destroyers arrived at ______ Destroyer
AMAZON arrived in the ______ Sloop
FLEETWOOD, which had only arrived at 0425, departed ______ British
oiler BRITISH GOVERNOR arrived at ______ British
steamers CYPRIAN PRINCE, ______ Submarine
NARWHAL arrived at Immingham and departed the same day for minelaying mission
FD.16 on the 3rd off Jaederens. ______ Submarine
TRUANT arrived at Rosyth after patrol. ______ Submarines
TRITON, TRIDENT, SALMON, SNAPPER, SEALION, SUNFISH departed patrol areas to
return to base. ______ Submarines
TRIAD, SEAWOLF, STURGEON were still at sea. Polish
submarine ORZEL (already lost) was ordered to relieve submarine TRIDENT's
billet. ______ Submarine
L.26 departed Harwich for Sheerness arriving later the same day. Submarine
L.26 was docked the next day. ______ British
troopships ORMONDE and ORAMA departed ______ Destroyer
WHIRLWIND escorting British troopship ROYAL SCOTSMAN (3244grt) departed
Harstad at 0400 for ______ British
repair ship VINDICTIVE departed ______ U.48
badly damaged chartered boom carrier ASTRONOMER (8401grt), en route from
Rosyth to The
report of the damage to the boom carrier was received at 0100/2nd. Destroyer
KELVIN was sent from Destroyer
MASHONA departed Anti-submarine
trawlers PETER HENDRICKS and PAUL RYKENS were ordered to the area and tug ST
MELLONS departed Destroyer
KELVIN reported a second explosion on the boom carrier ASTRONOMER at 0345 and
ASTRONOMER sank soon thereafter. Anti-submarine
trawler Four
crew were lost on the boom carrier. Anti-submarine
trawler STOKE At
0640, an aircraft bombed a submarine contact in 57-25N, 0-56W, twenty five miles
south of ASTRONOMER's position. Destroyers MASHONA and KELVIN set off to
search, but were unsuccessful. At
1100/2nd, destroyers ENCOUNTER and ATHERSTONE departed Rosyth. Destroyer
ATHERSTONE proceeded to Destroyer
ENCOUNTER was to join the search for the submarine contact near ASTRONOMER. At
1800/2nd, destroyer ATHERSTONE, still en route to Boom
defense vessel BARBICAN, escorted by anti-submarine trawler ELM, proceeded to
the area. They recovered the mooring buoys, covered by destroyers MASHONA and
ENCOUNTER, took them to Destroyer
KELVIN arrived at Destroyers
MASHONA and ENCOUNTER arrived at ______ British
trawler SLASHER (195grt) was sunk by German bombing seventy miles northeast,
one half mile east of the Spurn Light Vessel in 54-35N, 1-16E. One
crewman was killed on the British trawler. ______ Convoy
OA.159 departed Southend escorted by corvette CLARKIA. ______ Convoy
OB.159 departed ______ Convoy MT.79 departed Methil, escorted by sloop ______ Convoy FS.185 departed the ______ Armed
merchant cruisers Armed
merchant cruiser PATROCLUS was ordered to depart ______ U.37
sank Greek steamer IOANNA (950grt) 120 miles off The
entire crew was landed at
Sunday,
2 June British
Force K was formed for the final operations off The
destroyers were sent to Destroyer
WINDSOR embarked 493 troops on her first trip and destroyer ICARUS embarked
677 troops. Destroyer ICARUS was returned on the return part. At
0400, destroyer ICARUS was in a collision with a trawler or a drifter at Destroyer
CODRINGTON embarked 878 troops and destroyer SABRE embarked 756 troops. Destroyer
SHIKARI embarked 470 troops. Destroyer ESK was to have accompanied her, but
was unable to sail due to having been in continuous duty since 27 May. The
next pair was destroyers WINCHELSEA and WHITSHED. Destroyer
WINDSOR on her second trip embarked 624 troops. French
destroyers EPERVIER and LEOPARD operated on the patrol line, but withdrew
when German bombing began at 1035. Between
X and Y buoy, off Bray, anti-aircraft cruiser The
cruiser was ordered to Sheerness at 1442. Destroyer
MALCOLM at 1651 damaged her bow and propellers in a collision at Destroyers
VENOMOUS, WINDSOR, WINCHELSEA, among others lifted troops from Destroyer
WHITSHED was damaged in a collision with Tug JAVA (128grt) at The
destroyer was able to continue. Destroyer
WHITSHED departed Anti-submarine
trawler SPURS (399grt) of the 10th Anti-Submarine Group was badly damaged in
German bombing off Trawler
SPURS was assisted and escorted back to Early
on the 3rd, these destroyers arrived at Dover - CODRINGTON with 44 troops,
ESK with 500 troops, SABRE with 500 troops, SHIKARI with 700 troops,
VANQUISHER with 37 troops, VENOMOUS with 1500 troops, WHITSHED with 82
troops, WINCHELSEA with 152 troops, WINDSOR with 1022 troops, EXPRESS was not
able to embark troops and arrived at Dover. Gunboat LOCUST arrived with 800. Anti-submarine
trawlers AMETHYST and KINGSTON PERIDOT were damaged by German bombing at Tug
FOSSA (105grt) was stranded and abandoned at Bruyne Sands at She
was later salved by German forces for their own use. Belgian
fishing vessels ONZE LIEVE VROUW VAN VLAANDEREN (39grt), GETUIGT VOR CHRISTUS
(39grt), ANNA LEOPOLD (52grt) were lost at Fishing
vessel GETUIGT VOR CHRISTUS was sunk by a German patrol boat. Anti-submarine
trawler BLACKBURN ROVERS (422grt, Skipper W. Martin Skipper
W. Martin Anti-submarine
trawler WESTELLA (550grt, Chief Skipper A. Gove Anti-submarine
trawler SAON rescued thirty six men from the two trawlers. Hospital
ship British
steamer MONA'S Hospital
ship On
2 June, 26,256 troops were evacuated from Destroyer
VIVACIOUS with At
0300/3 June, the blockships were sunk at ______ Minesweeping
trawler MILFORD QUEEN (280grt) of the 10th Minesweeping Group, JAMES LAY
(278grt) of the 11th Minesweeping Group,CAPE MELVILLE (342grt) and MILFORD
PRINCESS (301grt) of the 12th Minesweeping Group and unattached CLOTILDE
(289grt), escorted by Sloop WESTON, departed the Tyne to cut the cables
between Newbiggin and Peterhead to Scandinavia in Operation QUIDNUNC. After
the operation, the ships proceeded to ______ French
trawler EMMA (255grt) and Finnish steamer HEBE (686grt) collided two miles
east, southwest of South Foreland light House. The
French trawler sank. ______ British
trawler GREYNIGHT (96grt) was sunk by German bombing off the The
Master of the trawler was lost. ______ |