The Battle of Dunkirk was a military operation that took place in Dunkirk (Dunkerque), France, during the Second World War. The battle was fought between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation to Britain of British and other Allied forces in Europe from 26 May to 4 June 1940.
The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slightly larger and had more powerful steam turbine engines giving higher speed to allow participation in high speed convoys and make them more difficult targets for German U-boats. A total of 531 Victory ships were built.
The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers during World War II from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the north of France, between 26 May and 4 June 1940. The operation commenced after large numbers of Belgian, British, and French troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops during the six-week long Battle of France. In a speech to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called this "a colossal military disaster", saying "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured. In his "we shall fight on the beaches" speech on 4 June, he hailed their rescue as a "miracle of deliverance".
A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Operationally, standard troopships – often drafted from commercial shipping fleets – cannot land troops directly on shore, typically loading and unloading at a seaport or onto smaller vessels, either tenders or barges.
The PS Medway Queen is a paddle driven steamship, the only mobile estuary paddle steamer left in the United Kingdom. She was one of the "little ships of Dunkirk", making a record 7 trips and rescuing 7000 men in the evacuation of Dunkirk.
MTB 102 is one of few surviving motor torpedo boats that served with the Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy in the Second World War. She was built as the Vosper Private Venture Boat as a prototype, but was purchased and taken into service by the Admiralty.
Rear Admiral Robert Walter Timbrell, CMM, DSC, CD, Royal Canadian Navy was the first Canadian to be decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross during the Second World War. This followed his part in Operation Dynamo where he was personally responsible for the evacuation of 900 troops from the beaches of Dunkirk.
The Little Ships of Dunkirk were about 850 private boats that sailed from Ramsgate in England to Dunkirk in France between 26 May and 4 June 1940 as part of Operation Dynamo, helping to rescue more than 336,000 British and French soldiers who were trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk during the Second World War.
TSS (RMS) King Orry (IV) - the fourth vessel in the line's history to be so named - was the lead ship of the King Orry Class of passenger ferries and packet ships. More commonly referred to as the six sisters, they were built for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1946 & 1955 primarily to replace war-time losses. The company's previous SS King Orry (1913), was one of three company losses during Operation Dynamo - the evacuation of British and French troops from the port of Dunkirk during May 1940.
Sundowner is a motor yacht formerly owned by Charles Lightoller, the second officer of RMS Titanic and the most senior officer to survive her sinking in 1912.
Basildon was a 1,055 gross register tons (GRT) coaster that was built in 1945 as Empire Bromley for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was sold into civil service in 1946 and renamed Levenwood. Another change of ownership saw her renamed Basildon and she served under this name until scrapped in 1967.
TSS (RMS) Lady of Mann, was a passenger ship, built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company at Barrow-in-Furness in 1930, at a cost of £249,073. Certificated to carry 2,873 passengers and 81 crew, she was commissioned to operate on the Island's busy Douglas–Liverpool and Douglas–Fleetwood routes, and had a maximum speed of 23 knots. Her hull was at first the company's conventional black, but was changed to white and green in 1933, only to revert to black after her war service.
SS Rochambeau was a French Transatlantic ocean liner.
HMS Sabre was an Admiralty S-class destroyer of the Royal Navy launched in September 1918 at the close of World War I. She was built in Scotland by Alex Stephens and completed by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan. Commissioned for Fleet service in 1919, she was the first Royal Navy ship to carry this name.
RFA Freshspring was a Fresh-class water tank vessel of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She survives in civilian hands as SS Freshspring, the last surviving example of the Fresh-class ships. The last of fourteen ships, she was used to carry fresh water out to larger ships. She is listed on the National Register of Historic Vessels maintained by National Historic Ships.
SS (RMS) Mona's Isle (IV) was a steel, triple-screw turbine driven packet steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1920 and 1948. Built in 1905 for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company, she was operated as Onward between Folkestone and Boulogne. In 1918 a fire was only controlled by scuttling the vessel. She was righted and in 1920, the hull was purchased by IOMSPCo to replace tonnage lost during the war. She was the first ship to complete a round trip during the evacuation of Dunkirk, rescuing a total of 2,634 troops.
TSS St Helier was a passenger vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1925.
SS Harold T. Andrews was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Harold T. Andrews, an ordinary seaman serving on SS West Nohno that, on 15 September 1942, in Suez, Egypt, saved an engineer that was trapped in the forepeak tank. He was posthumously awarded with the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal.
