British naval losses at Dunkirk on 30 may 1940

There were fewer losses of major vessels on 30 May compared to the previous day, due in part to the decision of Capt Wm. Tennant, SNO Dunkirk, to only allow one destroyer at a time to enter the harbour. This ensured that there was less congestion and fewer targets were presented to German aircraft.

HMS King Orry (Cdr J. Elliot, RNR), a passenger steamer from the Isle of Man Steam Packet company requisitioned by the Royal Navy for use as an Armed Boarding Vessel (ABV) in both the First and Second World War, attacked and badly damaged by German dive bombers. Scuttled clear of the harbour.

Isle of Man Steam Packet Tynwald passes wreck of sister ship King Orry at Dunkirk.

French destroyer Bourrasque struck a mine off Nieuwpoort, Beligium (ironically, a French-laid minefield). Survivors taken off by French torpedo boat Branlebas, Admiralty drifter Yorkshire Lass, and armed trawler HMT Ut Prosim.

French destroyer Bourrasque mined and sunk off Nieuwpoort on 30 May 1940

French destroyer Bourrasque sunk off Nieuwpoort, Belgium on 30 May 1940 during Operation Dynamo. She had sailed from Dunkirk at 1530 with over 600 troops embarked. She struck a mine 5-miles north of Nieuwpoort and began to sink. Survivors were taken off by the French torpedo boat Branlebas, Admiralty drifter Yorkshire Lass, and the armed trawler HMT Ut Prosim.

French destroyer Bourrasque sunk by mine off Nieuwpoort on 30 May 1940. IWM HU 2280.


OTDIH 23 October 1943

70-years ago today…


In the South Atlantic:


SS Campos.

In the Black Sea:


Type IIB coastal U-boat.

Setting a wartime record:


KKpt Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat.

Attacked in the Atlantic:


USS Turner (DD-648).

Royal Navy suffers double disaster during Operation Tunnel:


HMS Charybdis.


HMS Limbourne.