The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War 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 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".
HMS Jackal was a J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Completed in 1939, Jackal served in the Norwegian campaign and the Dunkirk evacuation before being deployed to the Mediterranean in 1941. Jackal took part in the Battle of Crete, and was scuttled after being heavily damaged by German bombers on 12 May 1942.
HMS Dunkirk (D09) was a later or 1943 Battle-class fleet destroyer of the British Royal Navy (RN). Though there were other ships of the Navy that had been named Dunkirk, as far back as the 1650s, it held added meaning after the evacuation from Dunkirk between late May and early June 1940, in which over 300,000 British, as well as French troops, were rescued by a ragtag fleet of ships.
HMS Wild Swan was an Admiralty modified W-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy. She was one of four destroyers ordered in 1918 from Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne under the 14th Order for Destroyers of the Emergency War Program of 1917–18. She was the second Royal Navy ship to carry the name, after the sloop HMS Wild Swan in 1876. Like her sisters, she was completed too late to see action in the First World War.
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.
HMS Calcutta was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, named after the Indian city of Calcutta. She was part of the Carlisle group of the C class of cruisers. She was laid down by Vickers Limited at Barrow-in-Furness in 1917 and launched on 9 July 1918. Calcutta was commissioned too late to see action in the First World War and was converted to an anti-aircraft cruiser in 1939. Calcutta served during the Norwegian Campaign and the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940. She was used to escort allied convoys across the Mediterranean and was sunk on 1 June 1941 by Luftwaffe aircraft off Alexandria, Egypt.
HMS Codrington was one of nine A-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the 1920s. She was the flotilla leader for the class. During the Second World War she served in Home waters and off the Norwegian coast, before being bombed and sunk on 27 July 1940 whilst in dock at Dover.
The Little Ships of Dunkirk were about 850 private boats that sailed from Ramsgate in England to Dunkirk in northern France between 26 May and 4 June 1940 as part of Operation Dynamo, helping to rescue more than 336,000 British, French, and other Allied soldiers who were trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk during the Second World War.
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.
HMS Vivacious (D36) was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I and World War II.
SS Mona's Isle was a steam turbine passenger ship that was built in Scotland in 1905 as Onward, renamed Mona's Isle in 1920, and scrapped in Wales in 1948. She was designed as an English Channel ferry for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), who operated her between Folkestone and Boulogne. In 1920 the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (IoMSP) bought her and renamed her Mona's Isle. The IoMSP ran her mainly on summer services linking Douglas with Dublin and Belfast. She was the fourth IoMSP ship to be called Mona's Isle.
The second HMS Vega was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I and World War II.
HMS Venomous (ex-Venom), was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the Russian Civil War and World War II.
The third HMS Windsor (D42) was a W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the final months of World War I and in World War II.
HMS Wolsey (D98) was a W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the final months of World War I, in the Nanking incident of 1927, and in World War II.
TSS Lorina was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1918.
PS Waverley was a Clyde-built paddle steamer that carried passengers on the Clyde between 1899 and 1939. She was requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as a minesweeper during World War I and again in World War II, and was sunk while participating in the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. The current PS Waverley, launched in 1946, was built as a replacement for this vessel.
PS Duchess of Fife was a paddle steamer built in 1903 for the Caledonian Steam Packet Company. She spent most of her career serving passenger routes in the Firth of Clyde and was requisitioned for use as a minesweeper during both World Wars. In 1940 she took part in the Dunkirk evacuation, rescuing a total of 1,633 allied troops.
PS Gracie Fields built in 1936, was the last paddle steamer built for Red Funnel as a ferry and excursion steamer. She ran on the Southampton-Cowes route until the outbreak of World War II, when she was requisitioned and served as HMS Gracie Fields as a minesweeper. After successfully evacuating troops from the Dunkirk beaches, she was seriously damaged by an aircraft bomb on 29 May 1940, and sank the following morning.
SS Clan Macalister was a Clan Line heavy-lift cargo liner. She was launched in 1930 in Scotland and sunk by enemy aircraft during the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940 with the loss of 18 of her crew. She was the largest ship to take part in the Dunkirk evacuation.
