TNA ADM 234 360

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CHAP. III
THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
with a view to lifting up to 45,000 of the B.E.F. within two days, at the end of
which it was probable that evacuation would be terminated by enemy action".
A further step was taken when, at 1800, Captain W. G. Tennant, M.V.O.,
R.N., was ordered by the Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral T.S. V.
Phillips, C.B., to proceed to Dunkirk to take control of the naval shore em-
barkation parties. Captain Tennant's appointment as S.N.O., Dunkirk, was
promulgated, his duties to commence the following day2, and beach masters
and pier parties were ordered to proceed from the Nore to Dover.
Then, at 1857, there went out from the Admiralty, by teleprinter, the historic
signal, "Operation Dynamo is to commence "3, which was to save our Army
in France, and to have the most momentous results for the Nation, the Empire
and the World.
Mona's Isle makes the first round trip
Except for the destroyer Wolsey, which left Dover at 1930 to act as W/T
link ship, the first ship to sail on this great mission was the armed boarding
vessel Mona's Isle, which left the Downs at 2116. After some delay with a
fouled propeller she berthed at the Quai Félix Faure during an air attack, and
embarked 1420 troops. On the return journey, she was straddled by shore
guns off Gravelines, and shortly after, was heavily machine-gunned from the
air; these attacks caused 83 casualties, including 23 dead. She reached
Dover at noon on the 27th May escorted by the destroyer Windsor, which had
put her doctor on board and landed her troops. Mona's Isle was the first ship
to complete the round trip in Operation "Dynamo".
Mona's Queen first ship back on 27th May
This, however, was not the first passage on 26th May. Even before the
Admiralty signal, the despatch of personnel vessels to Dunkirk had begun, a
flow of 2 vessels every 4 hours having been accepted by the B.E.F.4. The
armed boarding vessel King Orry had sailed at 0930, and the Mona's Queen at
noon. The Maid of Orleans had sailed at 1100 (with 6,000 two-gallon cans of
water), but arriving off Dunkirk during an air attack was unable to effect an
entrance and returned to Dover"; she was sailed again at 1726, escorted by
the destroyer Wild Swan, which had also taken out the Canterbury at 1728,
and escorted her part of the way.
The Mona's Queen (carrying 1200 troops) was the first of these ships to
arrive back from Dunkirk, reaching Dover shortly after midnight on the
26th/27th May ; the Canterbury arrived at 0309/27 (with 1,340 troops), the
store ship Ngaroma at 0500/27 (with a hundred troops), the Maid of Orleans at
0600/27 (with 980 troops), and the King Orry at 1100/27 (with 1,131). As a
result of these sailings on the 26th May 6,083 troops were landed in England
on the 27th May, of which Mona's Isle had contributed 1,420 towards the
two days".
tentative Admiralty target of "lifting up to 45,000 of the B.E.F. within
Hospital carriers
under Hague Convention was ignored, and their conspicuous white hulls
The the work of the hospital carriers was specially hazardous; their immunity
I D.R. page ii.
2 Appendix M. 2.
3 Appendix M. 1.
4
D.R.
16