L'Adroit – The lead ship of the L'Adroit class, she came into service in 1929. She was at anchor off Dunkirk on the night of the 20 / 21 May with orders to act as an escort for several large French vessels which were being evacuated from the port. Around midnight, she was hit by a number of bombs dropped from a Heinkel 111. Badly damaged, she was beached in shallow water just off Malo-les-Bains. Her magazines were crammed with ammunition and French sailors braving the danger, tried to offload the munitions before the fires which had broken out on board ignited them. Eventually, they were forced to abandon ship. When the fires reached the magazine, the resulting explosion severed the bow forward of the bridge. Miraculously, all of her crew were saved and they were used to man the shore batteries protecting Dunkirk until the surrender.
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