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REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS OF H.M.S."LOCUST" DURING OPERATION "DYNAMO245 258
29th May 1940 to 4th June 1940.
29th May. H.M.S. "Locust" and H.M.S. "Mosquito" were ordered to sail
for La Panne and Bray Dunes respectively, and proceeded at
1348.
At 1730 "Mosquito" parted company and at 1845 "Locust"
arrived in position off La Panne Beach.
Large numbers of both British and French Troops were seen
to be waiting on the beach, and it was decided that a first
attempt at embarkation shouldbe made by grounding the fore
part of "Locust" and trying to get the soldiers to wade
out and climb on board over the bow. Ladders were accord-
ingly rigged forward and the ship steamed in to the beach.
The kedge anchor was let go over the stern and at 1900
the ship took the ground forward. After hailing the
beach a few soldiers started to wade off, but gave up the
attempt, and as the tide was falling the ship was got off
and anchored, and embarkation started by means of the Ship's
two whalers.
At 1950 engaged enemy aircraft and continued to do so in-
termittently until 2130. Enemy aircraft were carrying out
bombing attacks on the beaches.
At 2200 "Locust" signalled Commander Cordeaux in "Royal
Eagle" for information, as embarkation was proceeding very
slowly, and there appeared to beno Power boats available.
Reply from "Royal Eagle" that Commander Cordeaux was in-
capacitated and that "Locust" was S.N.O. La Panne.
As there were no powerboats in sight, and a number of pulling
boats could be seen stranded on the beach by the receding
tide I decided to land in order to organize the troops into
pulling themselves off from the beach.
At 2220 S.N.O. "A" in "Hebe" approached and approved my
landing. I accordingly landed at 2230 and found six R.N.
cutters and three Merchant Service (pulling) Life boats
Mut
stranded on the beach about 300 yards from the water's edge.
Locust
There were about 1000 British Troops who appeared to be
in charge of Non-commissioned Officers. The boats had
of
swung across the beach and were jambed together, half full
of water and in many cases imbedded in the sand. The
3
soldiers took some little time to understand what was re-
this
quired of them, but eventually all the boats were emptied
x
and got down to the water's edge. They were then pulled
out to "Locust" and other ships present by the Soldiers.
30th May.
At midnight, 29th/30th the ships and the beach were again
bombed by enemy aircraft which caused some slight delay
in the embarkation, but by 0300 all the available boats
were off the beach and I returned on board.
P.T.O.