KEITH

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33^4          SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 17 JULY, 1947
unceasingly without relief or rest, exposed to         distinguishing between the uniforms of such
incessant air attacks, for seven days. The             officers as were present and those of other ranks.
work of these officers and men was of the              It was soon realised that it was vitally necessary
greatest value and contributed largely to the          to despatch Naval Officers in their unmistakable
success of the undertaking.                            uniform with armed Naval beach parties to take
                                                       charge of the soldiers on shore immediately
   113. As regards the bearing and behaviour           prior to embarkation. Great credit is due to
of the troops, British and French, prior to and        the Naval officers and Naval ratings for the
during the embarkation, it must be recorded            restoration of some semblance of order. Later
that the earlier parties were embarked off the         on when troops of fighting formations reached
beaches in a condition of complete disorganisa-        the beaches these difficulties disappeared.
tion. There appeared to be no Military officers
in charge of the troops, and this impression           Dover,
was undoubtedly enhanced by the difficulty in             18.6.40.


                             APPENDIX I TO F.O. DOVER'S DESPATCH
List of H.M. Ships, Personnel Ships and Hospital Carriers taking part, showing those lost or damaged
                               (by bomb, gunfire, mine or collision)
A.A. Cruiser CALCUTTA
Destroyers
  BASILISK                    (sunk 2gth May)          HAVANT                    (sunk ist June)
  GRAFTON                     ( „ „       „ )          KEITH                     ( „ „ „ )
  GRENADE                                              WAKEFUL


  ANTHONY ...                 (damaged soth May) SABRE                           (damaged 30th May
  EXPRESS ...                 (    >?   jISl    ,, )                                    and 2nd June)
  GALLANT ...                 (         29th   „ ) SALADIN ...                   (   „     29th May)
  GREYHOUND                   (    „    29th „ ) SCIMITAR ...                     (   „ 3ist „ )
  HARVESTER                   (         3ist „ ) VENOMOUS                         (   „     ist June)
  ICARUS                      (         3ist „ ) VIMY                             (   „     ist „ )
  IMPULSIVE                   (         3ist „ ) VIVACIOUS ...                    (   „     ist „ )
  INTREPID ...                (         29th „ ) WHITEHALL                        (   „     ist „ )
  IVANHOE ...                 (    „     ist June) WINDSOR ...                    (   „ 28th May)
  JAGUAR                      (    „    2gth May) WOLFHOUND                       (   „ 29th „ )
  MALCOLM ...                 (    „    3ist May WOLSEY     ...
                                    and 2nd June) WORCESTER                                 30th    „
   MONTROSE                    (   ,, 29th May)


   BLYSKAWICA (Polish)                  MACKAY                               WHITSHED
   CODRINGTON                           SHIKARI                              WILD SWAN
   ESK                                  VANQUISHER                           WINCHELSEA
   JAVELIN                               VERITY
 Total 41, of which 6 were sunk and 23 damaged.

 Sloops and Gunboats
   BIDEFORD             ...    (damaged ist June) MOSQUITO ..                     (sunk ist June)
                                                  LOCUST
 Corvettes
   KINGFISHER           ...    (damaged ist June) GUILLEMOT


 Guardships and Armed Boarding Vessels
   KING ORRY (damaged 27th May and sunk 30th May)                            LLANTHONY
   MONA ISLE (        „ 27th May and ist June)                               LORMONT

 Minesweepers
   BRIGHTON BELLE              (sunk 28th May)          SKIPJACK .                (sunk ist June)
  DEVONIA                      ( „ 3Ist „ )             WAVERLEY                  ( „ 29th May)
   GRACIE FIELDS ...           ( „ 28th „ )


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3304          SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 17 JULY, 1947
outside of the entrance. She remained in sole          35. Rear Admiral Wake-Walker proceeded
occupation of the harbour until shortly after       from Dover in ESK at about 1900 for passage
midnight 2Qth/30th, when her Captain rightly        to HEBE off the coast where he was to carry
decided to take the ship out of harbour before      out the duties of S.N.O. Dunkirk in charge
she also was sunk, thus freeing the berth and       of all embarkation arrangements, taking over
safeguarding the channel from 'being blocked.       from Captain Bush who had been working in
   Little information of these disasters filtered   HEBE under the orders of S.N.O., Dunkirk.
through to Dover, except that it was known          He expected to arrive at Dunkirk at 2330.
that Dunkirk was under heavy air bombard-              36. As a result of the heavy casualties and
ment and that the destroyers there were being       losses amongst the destroyer force, particularly
hit soon after 1600.                                the misfortunes which befell those of the larger
   31. At 1906 the Vice Admiral promulgated         and more modern types, a consultation was held
the plan for 'the night by signal as follows:       between the Admiralty and the Vice Admiral
                                                    which led to a decision to withdraw destroyers
" Evacuation of British troops to continue at       of the " H ", " I " and " J " Classes from
maximum speed during the night. If adequate          " Dynamo ". All destroyers of the " G " Class
supply of personnel vessels cannot be main-         were already out of action.
tained to Dunkirk East Pier, destroyers will
be sent there as well. All other craft except          There remained available for " Dynamo "
hospital carriers to embark from beach which        15 destroyers: —
is extended from one mile East of Dunkirk                 ESK                   WORCESTER
to one mile East of La Panne. Whole length               EXPRESS                WINDSOR
is divided into three equal parts referred to            ANTHONY                 VERITY
as La Panne, Bray, Malo, from East to West                KEITH                 VANQUISHER
with a mile gap between each part. La Panne               CODRINGTON            SABRE
and Bray have troop concentration points each             MALCOLM                SCIMITAR
end and in middle, Malo at each end. These                WHITEHALL              SHIKARI
points should be tended by inshore craft. Pass            WINCHELSEA
the message by V/S to ships not equipped W/T        Excluding any casualties, this number of
as .opportunity offers."                             destroyers might be expected to maintain a
                                                    flow of one destroyer per hour to the coast
   32. About 1900 a telephone message was           and would lift 17,000 troops in 24 hours.
received from La Panne Military Headquarters           37. The day closed with a formidable list of
through the War Office and the Admiralty to         ships lost or damaged, a marked reduction in
the effect that Dunkirk Harbour was blocked         the number of destroyers available and with
by damaged ships, and that all evacuation           failure to achieve the high rate of evacuation
must therefore be effected from the beaches.        hoped for. Some 38,000 were landed in Eng-
   About the same time a corrupt message from       land during the 24 hours, but the effect of the
 S.N.G. Dunkirk;, was receded stating con-          day's occurrences was to be more marked next
tinuous bombing, one destroyer sinking, one         day when instead of some 50,000 to 60,000
transport with troops on board damaged and          which had been calculated as the probable
impossible at present to embark- more troops,       achievement only 48,000 odd were in fac^ trans-
though pier undamaged.                              ported.
                                                    Thursday, ^oth May.
   33. In this confused situation the Vice
Admiral, Dover, at 2128, ordered all ships             38. As an example of the difficulty of any
approaching Dunkirk not to close the harbour,       one man appreciating the situation at Dunkirk
but instead to remain off the Eastern beach to      and the beaches during the night, at 0300/30
collect troops from the shore, and 'the drifters    the S.N.O. on the French Coast reported that
and minesweepers which were about to be             he had no destroyers. In fact, at that time,
despatched to Dunkirk Harbour were also             all available destroyers, namely 10, in the
diverted to the beaches.                            Dover Command, were either on, or on passage
                                                    to or from, the coast, and the remaining five
   It appeared, therefore, at this time that the    were at Dover discharging troops, embarking
use of Dunkirk Harbour would be denied to           ammunition, fuelling, etc. and were to sail
us except possibly to the small ships.              within the next four hours.
   Signals addressed to S.N.O. Dunkirk,                Simultaneously the V.C.I.G.S. reported that
HEBE, VERITY, who were known to be in               the beaches were well organised, the troops in
the vicinity of Dunkirk, „ were sent requiring      good heart, and there had been no bombing
information as to the accessibility of the          since dark, but that there was still a great
Eastern pier for personnel vessels. Admiral         shortage of small craft, urgently required. This
Nord was also informed that Dover was out           last fact was well known to the Vice Admiral,
of touch with Captain Tennant, and asked            Dover.
whether it was still possible for transports to        39. Commander-in-Chief, • Nore, was re-
enter the harbour and berth alongside.               quested to send as much towing hawser as
   No reply to these enquiries could be expected    possible to Ramsgate, as quickly as possible,
until after midnight.                               for supplying the skopts, to haul boats off
   34. In the event only four trawlers and a        the beaches, thus speeding up the boat work to
yacht entered Dunkirk during the hours of           compensate for the shortage of boats, which
darkness, and as enemy activity was much re-        would continue for at least another 24 hours.
duced only two bombing attacks being made,             40. At 0500 the seven modern destroyers
it subsequently transpired that a good oppor-       remaining with Vice Admiral, Dover—
tunity had been missed. It is probable that         ICARUS, IMPULSIVE, INTREPID, IVAN-
ships to lift some 8,000 to 10,000 troops could     HOE,       HARVESTER,          HAVANT       and
have been made available for Dunkirk during         JAVELIN—sailed to Sheerness in accordance
the night at little loss to embarkation from the    with Admiralty instructions. The MONTROSE
beaches.                                            and MACKAY sailed for repairs.


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3308           SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 17 JULY, 1947
   It should be noted that in spite of (fc) the       Route X, and occurred between 1000 and 1040,
rate of embarkation had, in fact, come up to          to be again resumed at noon. After that there
expectations, and if other circumstances had          was a lull until 1550, when another attack was
permitted it would have been possible to adhere       delivered on Dunkirk Harbour and all shipping
to the original plan of lifting the final 4,000       therein for over half an hour. At 1800 the
B.E.F. off the beaches between 0130 and 0300          Vice Admiral received the following signal from
ist June.                                             Dunkirk: " Things are getting very hot for
Saturday, ist June.                                   ships; over 100 bombers on ships here since
                                                      0530, many casualties. Have directed that no
    62. Two Hospital Carriers which had sailed        ships sail during daylight. Evacuation by
 the previous evening returned shortly after          transports therefore ceases at 0300. If perimeter
 dawn.      Only one had succeeded in entering        holds will complete evacuation to-morrow,
 Dunkirk Harbour, the other had laid off four         Sunday night, including most French. General
 hours under heavy fire and returned to Dover.        concurs." The sense of this message was passed
 Four personnel vessels failed to enter Dunkirk       on to Rear Admiral, Dover, off the coast.
 during the night, but succeeded in the early
 flours of the morning.        One of these, the          65. In addition to the heavy scale of air
 PRAGUE, was bombed and severely damaged              attack during the afternoon the sea traffic was
 half-way across on the return journey, but suc-      very seriously interrupted by artillery fire
.ceeded in making the Downs with the assistance       brought to bear on Route X near No. 5 buoy.
 of tugs, where troops transferred to other ships     The fire appeared to be accurate and it is be-
 particularly A/S trawlers LADY PHILOMENA             lieved some French ships were sunk. Two
 and OLVINA. The supply of personnel vessels          French destroyers in the vicinity stopped
 was maintained throughout the day, not with-         British ships approaching from England on X
 out a series of setbacks caused by 3 ships failing   Route short of this point, and it became evident
 to sail and by 2 being turned back when on           that a very serious threat -to daylight evacuation
 passage by French Destroyers owing to heavy          was in being.. Meantime, the toll of casualties
 bombing and shelling of the approaches to            of ships during the day was mounting, particu-
 Dunkirk. Of those that operated during the           larly amongst the destroyers and shortly after
 24 hours, i was sunk, 2 damaged by bombs and         midday the Commander-in-Chief, Nore, called
 shell-fire and i by collision.                       the attention of the Admiralty to this, suggesting
                                                      the discontinuation of the use of destroyers by
   63. During the middle watch it transpired          day off the French coast. The summarisation
that no further troops were attempting to             of all these incidents led to the Admiralty
evacuate from La Panne off which were                 directing the Vice Admiral, Dover, to suspend
stationed one paddle minesweeper, a fleet             evacuation from Dunkirk at 0700, Sunday 2nd
sweeper and two destroyers, probably due to           June, and for it to be resumed the following
the heavy shelling from German guns eastward,         night or from 1730/2, depending upon the cir-
and later information was received that the           cumstances. From the above it will be seen
troops were marching from La Panne through            that there were to be no ships proceeding to
Bray towards Dunkirk. Accordingly, during             Dunkirk between 0700/2 and 1730/2. The
the night the Rear Admiral, Dover, instructed         above Admiralty directions crossed a message
all small craft to move west, with boats in tow,      from the Vice Admiral stating th'at all ships had
towards Dunkirk, and the Vice Admiral directed        been ordered to withdraw from Dunkirk before
all ships under orders for La Panne to other           daylight the following day, owing to the heavy
positions further west, concentrating the main        casualties to shipping.
effort on the beach immediately east of                   66. In spite of enemy action more than
Dunkirk.
                                                       60,000 troops were landed in the United King-
   To a request from Dunkirk for Hospital Ships,       dom during the 24 hours, thanks to the unremit-
the Vice Admiral replied at 0715 that the large        ting determination of Naval vessels who all
ship berths alongside at Dunkirk must be               executed a succession of round trips, interrupted
occupied by personnel ships and the wounded            only by necessary refuelling and who accounted
that could conveniently be embarked should go          for 70 per cent, of this total. The majority
with personnel.      This direction was in             of the surviving vessels had been operating
accordance with the Government policy pre-             ceaselessly for at least five days, and officers
viously communicated to the Vice Admiral.              and men were approaching a condition of com-
                                                       plete exhaustion.
   64. Soon after dawn enemy aircraft were
active and heavy bombing and machine gun                  67. As for personnel ships, steps were taken
attacks developed at 0500 over the whole area          to place on board each a Naval Lieutenant
from Dunkirk to La Panne. A second series of           Commander or Commander to advise the
attacks commenced at 0830 and lasted until             Master, and ten seamen to assist in handling
0900, during which time nearly every ship off          the wires in going alongside under fire. By this
the coast was subjected to intensive bombing           means it was hoped not only to ensure the
and machine gunning, formations of 30 and 40,          timely sailing of these essential ships, but also
machines being noted. During this attack               to eliminate the occasions when these vessels
BASILISK was put out of action off La Panne            had remained outside Dunkirk Harbour to
and later sank while struggling home. KEITH,           await a quiet opportunity to enter.
SALAMANDER and SKIPJACK, who were                          68. Early in the forenoon a number of Senior
moving westward along the coast as the Bray            Officers were despatched from Dover in fast
 and La Panne beaches had been emptied, were           motor boats to round up all stray motor boats
heavily bombed, the former was hit and set on          in the Downs and along the routes, and direct
fire and the latter sank. KEITH was aban-              them back in the evening to the beach stretching
 doned and finally sank. Nearly all troops on           i£ miles eastward of Dunkirk, and a second
 board KEITH and the crews of both vessels             large flight of tugs with lifeboats was prepared
 were rescued by other ships. A third attack            at Ramsgate to send over for what was hoped
 started over Dunkirk, extending well out along         to be a final effort off the beach. In addition