TNA ADM 199 792

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CONFIDENTIAL.
Page 13.
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Operation "DYNAMO"
Narrative of Events.
30/5
Thursday, 30th May.
40. As an example of the difficulty of any one man
appreciating the situation at Dunkirk and the beaches during
the night, at 0030/30 the S.N.O. on the French Coast reported
that he had no destroyers. In fact, at that time, all
available destroyers, namely 10, in the Dover Command, were
either on, or on passage to or from, the coast, and the
remaining 5 were at Dover discharging troops, embarking
ammunitition, fuelling, etc. and were to sail within the next
4 hours.
Simultaneously the V.C.I.G.S. reported that the
beaches were well organised, the troops in good heart, and
there had been no bombing since dark, but that there was still
a great shortage of small craft - urgently required. This
last fact was well known to the Vice Admiral, Dover.
41. Commander-in-Chief, Nore, was requested to send as
much grass hawser as possible to Ramsgate, as quickly as
possible, for supplying the skoots, to haul boats off the
beaches, thus speeding up the boat work to compensate for the
shortage of boats, which would continue for at least another
24 hours.
42. At 0500 the 7 modern destroyers remaining with Vice
Admiral, Dover - ICARUS, IMPULSIVE, INTREPID, IVANHOE, HAR-
VESTER, HAVANT and JAVELIN - sailed to Sheerness in accordance
with Admiralty instructions. The MONTROSE and MACKAY sailed
for repairs.
43. Meantime the Vice Admiral, Dover, had been much
exercised regarding the possibility of the continued use of
Dunkirk harbour for personnel vessels and was anxiously
awaiting the report from VANQUISHER, who had been sent to
investigate the reported obstruction. VANQUISHER'S report
was received at 0610 stating entrance was practicable but that
obstruction exists towards outer inside end of the EASTERN ARM.
Pending amplifying reports, the sailing of personnel vessels
to Dunkirk was resumed, although at this time there were still
4 personnel vessels presumed to be in the vicinity of Dunkirk
Harbour, whose movements and whereabouts throughout the night
still remained obscure.
The Vice Admiral asked R.A. Dover, who was in HEBE,
whether personnel ships could, in fact, still use Dunkirk. In
the meantime a series of signals from Rear Admiral Dover, and
destroyers off the coast, were received, stating that the
beaches were filling up rapidly and more ships and boats were
urgently required there. Although it was known that the
destroyers could use Dunkirk, it appeared at this time that the
best division of transport was to send the great majority of
destroyers to the beaches, where urgent demands could not be
ignored, and the personnel vessels to Dunkirk Harbour, only an
occasional destroyer being sent to Dunkirk from the reduced
number now available for the operation.
44/