TNA ADM 199 790

Collection details

TNA ADM 199 790

Admiralty records concerning Operation Dynamo and the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, dating from 1940.

Holding archive: TNA
Collection reference: ADM 199 790

View the archive catalogue entry ↗

Source: The National Archives, Kew, ADM 199/790. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Showing only pages tagged with the vessel name Crested Eagle. Tags are exact matches from this collection’s OCR tag index. Clear vessel filter ×

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1 matching pages. OCR may contain transcription errors.

List page 1 of 1 Showing document pages 770–770 of this collection

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Page	Image	OCR text	OCR tags
770	Log in to enlarge	Dyroms 37. 291 Copy. Commodore's Office, 273 Royal Chatham. Naval Barracks, 31st May, 1940. Sir, I have the honour to make the following report on loss 1940. of H.M.S. 'CRESTED EAGLE", under my command, on 29th May, the The times are approximate only. 1000 Ordered to proceed in company with "Royal Eagle" to Coast east of Dunkirk to embark troops. "Royal Eagle" had on board S.O.T.D.F., Commander Cordeaux, R.N. 1330 Approaching coast I received signal from S.O.T.D.F., to proceed Dunkirk as it appeared to him that there were only Belgian and French troops on the beach at that time. 1430 Made fast on eastern side of Dunkirk Jetty, outer berth but one, which was occupied by troopship "Finella". On the opposite side was "Grenade" and several trawlers. 1500 First raid after arrival commenced in which some trawlers were damaged. 1530 onwards Bombing raids on the harbour and ships in the vicinity almost continuous now, "Grenade" was hit, and more trawlers damaged. Attack was so intense that my attention was given to what was happening in the immediate vicinity. Troops were trickling along between raids and boarding s/s HI inella I was in touch with Commander Clouston, R.N., who was incharge on the Jetty. After "Grenade" was damaged her survivors came on board "Crested Eagle" and W/T messages were passed by this ship to Dover, VA. 1700 inella was about to sail when a bomb dropped down her funnel putting her out of action. Commenced to embark troops from "Finella" to "Crested Eagle". 1700 to 1800. Troops and survivors from the damaged ships were embarked and I was ordered to proceed by Commander Clouston who remained on the Jetty. Swung clear of Jetty and steering an Easterly course, the ship was raided continuously until, as I learnt afterwards, five bombs dropped together, four of which hit the ship. As the engines (paddles) were still functioning I held on course for a little while, but I soon discovered that the ship my was on fire, certainly from amidships right in. aft. The deck was up four or five feet and the sides were The Engineer, Lieutenant Jones, reported on we should not be able to proceed far, so decided to beach the the bridge at this time (although badly burnt) to say that ship. At this point all S.P's and C.B's. were jettisoned in the steel chest by the P.O. Telegraphist. Ship's head turned to the beach where she brought up sometime Fire later. steadily gained ground and with the wind aft	Commodore Crested Eagle Royal Eagle Bridge Clouston Cordeaux Dover Head Jones Little May right

Raw OCR

Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 770.

Dyroms 37.
291
Copy.
Commodore's Office, 273
Royal Chatham. Naval Barracks,
31st May, 1940.
Sir,
I have the honour to make the following report on
loss 1940. of H.M.S. 'CRESTED EAGLE", under my command, on 29th May, the
The times are approximate only.
1000 Ordered to proceed in company with "Royal Eagle" to
Coast east of Dunkirk to embark troops. "Royal Eagle" had
on board S.O.T.D.F., Commander Cordeaux, R.N.
1330 Approaching coast I received signal from S.O.T.D.F.,
to proceed Dunkirk as it appeared to him that there were
only Belgian and French troops on the beach at that time.
1430 Made fast on eastern side of Dunkirk Jetty, outer
berth but one, which was occupied by troopship "Finella".
On the opposite side was "Grenade" and several
trawlers.
1500 First raid after arrival commenced in which some
trawlers were damaged.
1530 onwards Bombing raids on the harbour and ships in
the vicinity almost continuous now, "Grenade" was hit, and
more trawlers damaged. Attack was so intense that my
attention was given to what was happening in the immediate
vicinity.
Troops were trickling along between raids and
boarding s/s HI inella
I was in touch with Commander Clouston, R.N., who
was incharge on the Jetty.
After "Grenade" was damaged her survivors came on
board "Crested Eagle" and W/T messages were passed by this
ship to Dover, VA.
1700 inella was about to sail when a bomb dropped down
her funnel putting her out of action.
Commenced to embark troops from "Finella" to "Crested
Eagle".
1700 to 1800. Troops and survivors from the damaged ships
were embarked and I was ordered to proceed by Commander
Clouston who remained on the Jetty.
Swung clear of Jetty and steering an Easterly
course, the ship was raided continuously until, as I learnt
afterwards, five bombs dropped together, four of which hit the
ship.
As the engines (paddles) were still functioning
I held on course for a little while, but I soon discovered
that the ship my was on fire, certainly from amidships right in. aft.
The deck was up four or five feet and the sides were
The Engineer, Lieutenant Jones, reported on
we should not be able to proceed far, so decided to beach the
the bridge at this time (although badly burnt) to say that
ship.
At this point all S.P's and C.B's. were
jettisoned in the steel chest by the P.O. Telegraphist.
Ship's head turned to the beach where she
brought up sometime Fire later. steadily gained ground and with the wind
aft