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    Our fleet during World War II: Operations Dynamo and Neptune

    27 February 2024

    Captured merchant vessels, voyages to England, heroic deeds or sunk without trace… NNPC was founded shortly before the Second World War and so there’s a treasure trove of tales about the fleet that we insured at the time. What happened to “our” ships—where did they go and did they come back?

    In this series of articles, we dive into the Dutch Merchant Shipping Database for 1940-1945 to find out what happened.

    Dunkirk and D-Day

    In this first part, we’ll take a look at the ships that took part in two large-scale allied operations, Dynamo and Neptune. The first of the two was portrayed a few years ago by the director Christopher Nolan in his film “Dunkirk”. It was the successful operation to evacuate stranded British troops from a dire situation in Dunkirk, using numerous commercial and private vessels. The second was the starting signal for the world-famous amphibious Operation Overlord, better known as D-Day. We are rightly proud that ‘our’ fleet of ships played a part in it, as you can read below!

    Hilda

    The coaster Hilda managed to get away from the Netherlands in 1940 and cross over to England. In that same year, from the end of May to early June, she took part in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of allied troops from the beaches around Dunkirk. Over several trips, she took no less than 835 soldiers back to England. There was an anxious moment for the crew of the Hilda on June 1st when the ship was attacked by German planes off the coast near La Panne. The ship itself did not suffer any damage, but the British destroyer HMS Keith, which was nearby, was badly damaged. The Hilda immediately took some of its sailors on board and brought them to safety.

    Pascholl

    Pretty much the same happened to the Pascholl: fleeing from the Netherlands in May 1940 and then directly put to use, probably with a British crew. The ship certainly showed what it was worth, saving 695 soldiers.

    Borneo

    There is plenty of information available about the various transport tasks carried out around the British Isles by the motorised freighter Borneo uitvoerde – and the perilous adventures of her crew. The vessel sailed in various convoys between Barry, the Seine Bay and the Bristol Channel, for instance, and was finally deployed in Operation Neptune. Skipper Jan Lamein from Veendam survived an attack by German planes on the Libelle and first engineer Ernst Johan de Vries from Rauxel came away from Operation Neptune unscathed on the Brandaris.

    Cateli

    We know a lot less about the coaster Cateli. After crossing, once again in 1940, she was used on June 8th, 1944 for carrying parts of what were known as ‘Bailey bridges’, used during Operation Neptune in Normandy. These military bridges are made up of standard segments and can therefore be built quickly for getting equipment across rivers. They were indispensable in the fight to regain Europe.

    Coen

    Coen

    The last vessel that we want to highlight is the Coen. This ship too was used for transport duties around England, escaping by the skin of its teeth in 1941 when attacked from the air while sailing from Preston to Fremington. Fortunately, the ship was undamaged. In the summer of 1944, it was therefore able to take part in Operation Neptune, in a convoy that included the Bellatrix, the Confid, the Hondsrug, the Jacoba, the Ton-S and the Vliestroom. The Coen remained under the captaincy of just one person throughout the war, Jacob Pinkster from Oude Pekela.

    Read the rest of the series “Our fleet during World War II” as well!

    • Part 1 – Operations Dynamo and Neptune
    • Part 2 – Seized by the Germans
    • Part 3 – Ships that were badly damaged or sunk
    • Part 4 – Food aid during the Hunger Winter
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