The Little Ships of Dunkirk: All you need to know about Operation Dynamo

ITV News

01-06-2025

In May 1940, 85 years ago, a military operation began to evacuate British and French soldiers from northern France following the German advance.
The mission became known as Operation Dynamo.
Around 70 small vessels, including fishing boats, yachts, and pleasure steamers, braved treacherous conditions to rescue over 336,000 troops from the beaches of Dunkirk.
Background:
In 1940 Germany invaded France and the Low Countries, cutting through British, French and Belgium troops in the process.
The Allies were pushed back to the French port of Dunkirk where they were vulnerable to attack with their backs to the sea.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the men to be rescued in what became the largest military evacuation in history. Codenamed Operation Dynamo it was co-ordinated from the tunnels deep beneath Dover Castle.
Dynamo was a type of electrical generator that had been used there.
John Evans was a boy living in Southampton and talks about his memories of seeing troops returning from Dunkirk.
The evacuation lasted from 26 May – 4 June 1940, and under intensive firing and bombing 338,000 troops were brought back over the English Channel to ports such as Dover, Margate and Ramsgate .
Hundreds of civilian ships were commandeered to help shuttle the stranded troops from the beaches to the deeper waters where larger Royal Navy ships were waiting.
These have become known as 'The Dunkirk Little Ships'. Many were privately owned and included fishing vessels, yachts, tugs, motorboats and paddle steamers including the Medway Queen.
The operation was a success because of the heroism of the rescuers and the dogged rearguard action that was fought. But the Germans also paused the advance on Dunkirk which allowed many more men to escape.
Britain's soldiers, the British Expeditionary Force were trained professionals and their loss would have meant almost certain defeat and surrender early in World War Two.
Morale was boosted as tragedy was turned into triumph and the rescue was dubbed by Churchill as ''The Miracle of Dunkirk.''
But the country was at its lowest point following this disaster as its main Allies had been defeated and it had lost much of its military equipment.
The invasion it feared that summer never came though. The RAF went on to defeat the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain a few months later and Hitler instead embarked on a mass bombing campaign known as the Blitz.
Britain did not return to France until D-Day four years later.
How Operation Dynamo unfolded-
20/05/1940 - Winston Churchill orders preparation of vessels to evacuate the British Expeditionary Forces from Northern France.
24/05/1940 - Hitler orders his forces not to cross the Lens-Bethune-St Omer-Gravelines line, allowing the Allied forces more time to reach the French coast.
24/05/1940 - Allied defensive positions are hit by by German Luftwaffe bombers around Dunkirk.
25/05/1940 - More and more retreating Allied units arrive at Dunkirk.
26/05/1940 - Hitler orders his forces towards Dunkirk.
26/05/1940 - The evacuation of Allied forces from the French port officially begins. It's called Operation Dynamo and is based in Dover Castle.
26/05/1940 - Over 850 British civilian vessels assist military forces to awaiting transports. It would become the largest military evacuation in history.
29/05/1940 - More than 72,000 British soldiers had been evacuated from France to ports such as Dover, Margate, Ramsgate and Sheerness.
01/06/1940 - Defense of the outlying region near Dunkirk now passes to French XVI Corps
04/06/1940 - Some 40,000 French soldiers are taken prisoner by Germany at the fall of Dunkirk.
04/06/1940 - The evacuation of Allied forces at Dunkirk officially ends. Over 338,000 soldiers are saved.
Little Ships
Abdy Beauclerk
Abdy Beauclerk was towed across the English Channel by a drifter they arrived at a beach just East of Dunkirk harbour on 31st May.
Aberdonia
Aberdonia went to Dunkirk where she is thought to have made four trips to the beaches even before they had time to repaint her in battleship grey.
Advance
Advance was one of the first Little Ships to arrive at Dunkirk - but was one of a group of little ships which were machine-gunned by two aircraft.
Alusia
Alusia was built as a pleasure boat, but soon after the outbreak of war she was called up for more serious duties as a patrol boat, and assisted in the evacuation of Dunkirk.
Angele Aline
Angele Aline is almost 100 years old, but there is no record of the number of trips she made ferrying troops from the harbour to the warships anchored in deep water off the coast.
Anne
Anne was the only 'little ship' to return to Dunkirk in 2010 on her original engines. She is now berthed in Chichester.
Aquabelle
Aquabelle was delivered to the Royal Navy to go to Dunkirk and as she was fitted with a gun, she went on to defend lighthouses from air attack.
Beatrice Maud
Beatrice Maud crossed the channel on 31st May and around 260 soldiers, reported to be French, boarded her on 4 June and a British Naval ship towed her in to Dover the following day.
Bessie
In 1940, Bessie was taken from Wells-next-the-Sea to Ramsgate as part of Operation Dynamo to help evacuate the British Expeditionary Forces from Dunkirk.
Bluebird
Bluebird made two false starts in getting to Dunkirk. The first time she developed engine trouble. Then, when she got as far as Sheerness, there were too many volunteers and she was left behind.
Braymar
Braymar suffered major damage, not from air attack, mines or shells at Dunkirk but she was laid up ashore for ten years after the war and completely dried out so that her planks and topsides started to deteriorate.