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Vimiera
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ORDE Registry
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Small Craft Service List
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Red List (1939–40) — OCR
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Ship Details
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- Ship type: D
Lloyd’s Yacht Register (1939)
Source: Lloyd’s Register Foundation, Heritage & Education Centre, Lloyd’s Register of Yachts 1939, digitised via Internet Archive. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Images have been converted, resized and watermarked for web display; machine-generated table OCR has been added.
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Document Collections — Tagged Pages
3 pagesImaged document collections containing pages whose OCR text or table data has been tagged with the name Vimiera. Open a collection to view the page images and transcriptions.
Source: The National Archives, Kew, ADM 234 360. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Details
THE WEEK BEFORE OPERATION "DYNAMO" CHAP. II Communication with England was cut, and all messages had to be sent by des- troyers. By 1530 the Germans had occupied the whole of Boulogne except a bridge- head, all anti-tank guns were out of action, and half of Major Holford's force were estimated to be casualties. The destroyers Keith (D. (19), Captain D. J.R. Simson) and Whitshed went over to Boulogne during the afternoon, and were followed later by the Venetia, Venomous, Vimiera, Wild Swan and Windsor. The arrival of the first two destroyers was followed by an enemy air attack, together with close range mortar, machine gun and rifle fire, which caused damage and casualties, including Captain D. (19) who was killed, and necessi- tated breaking off, the work of evacuating wounded and withdrawing tem- porarily from the port. Fortunately, No. 92 Squadron of the R.A.F. (12 Spitfires) soon encountered the large enemy formation and, with some loss to themselves and much to the enemy, gained a measure of control of the situation; and by 1955 the destroyers were back in harbour and carrying out the evacua- tion of the Welsh Guards. The Keith had received a signal at 1749 ordering all troops to be evacuated. About 2000, while Lieut.-Comdr. Welman was on the point of firing the last of the demolition charges, German tanks towing field guns appeared over the hill north of the harbour and opened heavy fire at the three destroyers coming in to take off Force Buttercup." An amazing engagement, described by eye-witnesses as magnificent, ensued between the German field guns and the destroyers. The Venetia was hit while in mid-channel, but she was got under control and out of the harbour, thus avoiding blocking in the Venomous and Wild who were embarking " Force Buttercup" and the Irish Guards while engaging the enemy tanks and field guns with every gun they had. It was low water when the destroyers eventually backed out of harbour, loaded down with troops. When the Venomous backed out her wheel jammed and she had to steer with her engines; the Wild Swan, following her, grounded for a moment, but both ships got off and both reached Dover safely. When, at 2234 some 3,000 troops had been brought off, the Wild Swan reported that although a considerable number remained further evacuation was impracticable. The Windsor, however, which had been ordered at about 2030 to help in the evacuation, arrived after the rest of the destroyers had left; she entered the harbour after dark, filled to capacity and sailed again without damage or much difficulty. On clearing the harbour, the Windsor informed V.-A. Dover that further evacuation under cover of darkness was still possible and that two more destroyers could lift all the soldiers still left at Boulogne. Vice-Admiral, Dover, therefore, despatched the Vimiera at 0015 on the 24th to try to bring off the remaining troops. She arrived at Boulogne at 0130, and found all silent. At length the Commanding Officer's hail was answered, and it was found that there were more than 1000 troops waiting for a ship. Going alongside the jetty, the destroyer was crowded to the tiller flat by 0230, the only space left being round the guns; and when she slipped at 0245 she was compelled to leave some 200 men behind. Five minutes later shore batteries opened fire on the jetty, and at 0255 a bomber passed close and a bomb ex- ploded 20 yards away. The Vimiera was so over-loaded that even five degrees of helm made the ship list unpleasantly. She reached Dover safely at 0355 and landed some 1400 men, including Belgian and French troops and some I The Whitshed had been at Boulogne helping to evacuate wounded from 0630 to 1045 when she left with two transports for Calais. 9
Details
THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK CHAP. II refugees who got on board. The numbers evacuated by the destroyers con- cerned were approximately :- Keith 180 Vimy ... ... 150 Whitshed ... ... 580 Vimiera ... ... Wild Swan 1955 403 (in two trips) ... ... Windsor ... 600 Venomous ... 500 Total ... 4368 The Venetia, damaged, did not get alongside a quay. During the night 22 23rd May, before the evacuation under fire, the Verity took off two General Officers and some 150 troops. In addition to the Venetia, the Wild Swan, Whitshed, Keith and Venomous all received damage during the evacuation. The Keith lost Captain D. (19) and 7 ratings killed, and had 28 wounded; the Vimy had one officer killed and her Commanding Officer, Lieut.-Comdr. C. G. W. Donald R.N. was seriously wounded and died subsequently ; the Whitshed lost one officer killed and had 12 ratings wounded; the Venetia had 20 ratings killed or missing and 11 wounded; the Commanding Officer of the Verity, Lt. Cdr. A. R. M. Black R.N. was wounded and subsequently died. 23RD 24TH MAY The "Weygand" Plan In the midst of this changing panorama of events, on the 23rd May, General Weygand became Commander-in-Chief in all theatres of war". He had, however, previously formulated the ' Weygand plan". This plan contem- plated a counter-offensive on a large scale¹ and, briefly, it consisted of 3 operations:- :- (a) An attack south-westward from the north, by the French 1st Army and the B.E.F., with the Belgian Cavalry Corps supporting the British right. (b) An attack northward from the line of the Somme, which line the newly formed Third French Army Group was reported to be organising. (c) Operations on the line of the Somme west of Amiens, by a new Cavalry Corps which was assembling south of the river near Neufchatel. On the 23rd May Lord Gort received a telegram from the British Prime Minister to extract:- the French Prime Minister, M. Reynaud, of which the following is an "Strong Salvation enemy armoured forces have cut Armies. gand's plan. of these I Armies can only be obtained communications by immediate of execution Northern of Wey- north Not could feeling sure that the situation armies in the to General be accurately appreciated developing for the Lord Allied Gort telegraphed I Sir John Dill asking him to except fly over on the that spot, day. Lord Gort's Second Despatch, para. 38 10
Details
INDEX I, 72n. small craft, 61. 29n, 53 (rams and sinks Queen of England). Tilly Tolly, 71n. Torbay 23n. 53, 60n, 74, 75n. Tugs, Troup, use as transports, 41. Triton, Cdr. H. R., 21, 118, 86. 128. Twente, 20n, 24, 29n, Two Rivers, 75n. Tynwald, 29n, 54n, 64n, 107n, 109, 112n, 114n, 118 (record lift). U-boats, see Submarines. Ut Prosim, 23n, 63, 107n. V.A. Dover, see Ramsay, Vice-Admiral B. H. Vanguard, 60. Vanquisher, 37-8, 54n, 55, 61, 62 (make two trips on 30th May), 87, 107n, 108 (sent back empty), 112n, 114n, 118. Vavasour, Lt. G. W., 79-81. Vega, 34, 42, 69. Venetia, at Boulogne, 9-10. Venomous, at Boulogne, 9-10; in Dynamo, 61, 101, 107-8, 114n, 118. Vénus, sunk, 93. Verity, at Calais, 10; in Dynamo, 13, 19, 28n, 32, 43-4, 49, 51 (reports on Dunkirk), 54n, 55. Victor-Erna, 73n. Viewfinder, sunk by Belgian troops, 53. Viking, 60. Vimiera, at Boulogne, 9-10. Vimy, at Boulogne, 8-9; in Dynamo, 20, 23, 27-8, 62 (makes two trips on 30th May), 64n, 69 (hunts S/M.), 74 (rams and sinks Amulree), 95. Vivacious, 23, 27-8, 45, 61 (calls for more ships and boats), 74 ( -boats), 83 (damaged), Vincia, 71n, 90. 87, 111-2 (in Operation CK), 127. V.T.B.25, 116 (evacuates Admiral Abrial), 120 (towed to Dover). Vulture, 72n. W.24, 60. W.26, 72n. Wakeful, 20n, 23, 24n, 27, 32, 36 (sunk), 37, 85. Wake-Walker, Rear-Adm. W.F. (R.A. Dover) Apptd. S.N.O. Afloat, 49, 50 ; takes over duties, 58; tranships four times in 24 hours, 59; general policy, 71; urges M.B's. to be sent back, 74; investigates position E. of Dunkirk, 85-6; transfers to M.T.B.102, 90 clears Dunkirk of ships, 103; activities night 2/3 June, 108; on the final night, 115; effect of his arrival, 126. Walker I, 32n. Walker II, 32n, 114n. Wardrop, Lt. Cdr. R. G., R.N.R., 49. Warren, Lt. Cdr. G. H., 88. Water supply, shortage at Dunkirk and beaches, 26, 31, 62. Wave Queen, 72n. Waverley, 28n, 42 (sunk), 47n. Weather, affects boat work, 36, 48. Weddle, S/Lt. J. S., R.N.R., 85. Wells, Lt. J. G., 79-82. Welman, Lt. Cdr. A. E. P., 8, 9. Westcove, 111-2, 120. Westella, 34n, 38 (sinking of), 69 (hunts S/M.), 110 (sunk). Westerley, 72n. Westward-Ho, 89 (damaged), 107n. Weygand, General, 5, 10 (Plan), 11, 27, 96. Whalley, Lt. 49. Whippingham, overloaded, 87. Whitehall, 55, 83 (damaged), 84 (shoots down bomber), 91. White Heather, 72n. Whitfield, Col., 22. 207
Operation Dynamo Map — Movement Logs
Movements recorded for Vimiera during the evacuation period, as plotted on the Operation Dynamo map.
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