Lead by Brown Owl, the fleet of 'little ships' will sail to commemorate the successful rescue mission of more than 300,000 soldiers, nearly 10 times more than experts at the time predicted could be saved.
Gabriel Morris reports...
Gabriel Morris reports...
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00:00Well I'm here in Ramsgate where little ships are starting to assemble for the 85th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation.
00:08Now it's from these vessels of this size where hundreds of thousands of troops were evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk.
00:17It's actually in this harbour here where all the little ships, all the civilian ships, all 800 of them, assembled before heading to France.
00:25Now when they made that journey, which is something unprecedented in a war zone for civilians to be part of,
00:31they thought they would really only be evacuating between 20,000 to 40,000 troops.
00:36That number turned out to be more like 330,000.
00:41To put that into some perspective, that would be the population today of Sevenoaks, Ashford, Chatham, Tunbridge Wells and Folkestone combined.
00:51So, so many troops were saved because of the act of civilians here in Ramsgate and across the rest of the UK.
01:00Now, there were some losses because they were heading into an active war zone.
01:04It's thought around one in four of these little ships did sink during that evacuation.
01:10But many do survive and you will see so many of those here this weekend in Ramsgate.
01:16But I've been speaking to a local Kent historian about the significance of Operation Dynamo and what that meant for the outlook of the rest of the war.
01:26It's a key moment in the Second World War. It keeps Britain in the war. It allows them to rescue an army from the jaws of catastrophe.
01:35And even though France, unfortunately, surrenders, Britain is able to keep its army, defend itself from invasion and then go back four years later and help liberate the continent.
01:46There you go. Show some significance of how important Operation Dynamo was for the outcome of the whole war.
01:55Now, there was thought to be some 750 vessels, little ships like Brownal next to me involved during Operation Dynamo, transporting troops from the beaches of Dunkirk to some of the biggest ships which were in the Channel.
02:09And some of the little ships would have come all the way back to Ramsgate.
02:12Now, joining me now is Karen Cox from the Royal Temple Yacht Club.
02:16Now, this weekend, there's going to be many of those historic little ships like the one behind us.
02:20How many are going to be here?
02:21We're expecting over 70, but obviously that's going to be down to the weather.
02:25But we're very, very excited for them to come in.
02:27It's been about 10 years now since they were last here because, of course, the last one was cancelled due to Covid.
02:33And it wasn't just civilian ships which were used during Operation Dynamo.
02:39RNLI was also involved.
02:40That's quite right.
02:41So there was 19 RNLI boats in total that were requisitioned by the Navy and went across.
02:46But two of them were actually with their own crew, which was very unusual.
02:49And that was Ramsgate and Margate.
02:51In total, between the two of them, they've saved 3,400 lives, which is an incredible feat.
02:56And it's not just going to be the historic ships this weekend.
02:59It's going to be some Moderna festivals, some pleasure boats here as well.
03:03That's right.
03:04We've got our own fleet from the Royal Temple Yacht Club are going across with them as well.
03:08And we've also got the supporters fleet.
03:10And then we've also got people like the P2000s who are going across to, and the estuary services as well.
03:16Karen, thank you so much.
03:17You're welcome.
03:18So Brown Owl was one of those ships.
03:20And this weekend, or next week when they all go over to Dunkirk, Brown Owl will be the head of the fleet.
03:26And the captain, the skipper, of that is Chris Cox.
03:30Chris, bit of an honour, isn't it?
03:31Well, it is.
03:32Truth is, the skipper's Kevin Finn, the owner.
03:35But I'll be taking over some of the helming duties as we go across the channel.
03:40As we go across the channel, we've got to cross the traffic shipping lane, which is the most busiest shipping lane in the world.
03:47Which is going to be like riding a bicycle across a motorway.
03:51And it's not just all the ships this weekend.
03:53There's a lot happening onshore as well.
03:54Tell us a little bit about that.
03:56There's an awful lot that we're doing this weekend.
03:58We're really trying to bring the focus on to Ramsgate and celebrate Ramsgate and all it did.
04:02So from the Ramsgate tunnels, with ongoing exhibitions with Medway Queen, with the RNLI.
04:08We also have on Sunday, a church service.
04:11Before the service, there's a parade from the Saders Church.
04:15Tuesday's going to be an exciting day.
04:18Tuesday, we're going to have the Royal Marines Marching Band parading around here, the Royal Harbour.
04:23And there'll be some VIP dignitaries in Pier Yarden.
04:27And also, we're very honoured to have a small air display, two Spitfires, a Swordfish and then two Wildcat helicopters.
04:36And that's all free of charge.
04:38Yeah, lots happening this weekend.
04:39And if you're down here at the moment, there's also some memorials up as well, which are brand new for the town.
04:45There are.
04:46So we've been working with Standing With Giants, who are well known for their silhouettes that tell stories so beautifully and bring back memories.
04:55In fact, there's an installation that just went up this morning of an eight-foot tommy soldier.
05:00And then there's two sets of murals, 18 metres long, telling that Dunkirk story of the soldiers from the beach to the little ships and then home into Ramsgate.
05:10So we've been very honoured to be supported by Standing With Giants.
05:13And just going back to Brownow, you're going to be sailing on her next week.
05:16How long do you think that crossing is going to take next Wednesday morning?
05:19Yeah, 45 miles we've got to do and it's going to take us about seven hours.
05:23But it depends on the day with wind, waves and conditions.
05:27So about seven hours.
05:28Chris, thank you so much for your time.
05:31Well, I'm going to be joining in on a celebrations next week.
05:34I'm going to be going across on one of the boats next Wednesday morning.
05:38So hopefully the weather stays put and you can follow that whole journey with us at kmtv.co.uk.