Dunkirk. Destroyed ship picture

[Vegard T]

I have this picture in my collection of a destroyed ship at Dunkirk and I was wondering if anybody knew which one it was?

The one in my collection:


Other pictures found online:

[andy123]

I think that this is the Bourrasque. Hit a mine.

Andy

[Vegard T]

You mean this one?
BOURRASQUE DESTROYER 1925-1940 - WRECK WRAK EPAVE WRACK PECIO

It looks a lot like it, but 3 things:
1: The back mast is gone
2: The picture indicated that the mine hit in the rear of the ship, but there is no visible damage in my picture from the mine
3: It is said that the Bourrasque was hit by a mine in the stern section and sunk fast, if it sunk fast, why the second hit?

[airwarrior]

Is it Lorentic?
my elderly uncle who was at Dunkirk with the 12th Lancers thinks this may be her i had a similar photograph in a German photograph album same ship and he said that name shame i cant ask him.He passed away last month but he had a very sharp memory he spent 9 hours in the water up to his shoulders.He got to my granparents wedding with his battledress shrunken and had to be leant a suit.

[big ned]

What will clinch the I.D. of this wreck is the certainty of it's location. The FR Bourrasque was hit in the stern by a mine and eventually sank after recieving artillery fire at Ostend. That is 27 miles away from Dunkirk.

On the other hand, The Bourrasque class destroyer FR Sirocco was torpedoed by the German S-boots S23 and S26 on the 31st of May and was finished off by German Bombers soon after with the loss of over 600 men, this DID sink at Dunkirk.

Looking at the damage, I'd plump for Sirocco, but it's the positive location of the photographed ship that will solve the mystery.

Celebrating my 2000th post!!

Regards, Ned.

[aj4010]

Celebrating my 2000th post!!

Well done Ned. Looking back on some of them, I wonder how many keyboards and monitors belonging to members you have destroyed? I have learned a lot on this forum, and one of the most important things is not to be drinking coffee/tea/beer while reading some of your posts. "It's shagged I'm afraid" is a case in point, which made my day. Long may you keep posting mate!

Best Regards,

Andy

[Wagriff]

An intriguing photo, for sure...The first thing that comes to mind is that the ship is not a warship, as it has no sets of cannon turrets, of course. The next thing, is it's huge size. It has Three Stacks. The prominent swing out Life Boat Davits also are not what you generally see on a warship either. The damage it took looks like it was blown from beneath by either an enormous mine or a heck of a torpedo. One wonders what the cargo must have been to literally blow the nose of the ship off and flip it entirely over when it ignited.
But, as Ned said, the key to identifying the image would be the location. This is an iconic photo and I've seen several different views of this same ship(one with German soldiers on Bicycles looking at it, comes to mind) but was this at Dunkirk or who knows where on the North Sea? Is it even a British ship? It could well be French,Norwegian,Belgian,or who knows what. There were even Australian ships operating at Dunkirk. Unless some basic information is firmly established, this could be one of several hundreds of various ships lost in the Channel(if it even Is in the Channel,that is!).

[big ned]

After a little more research I can confirm that the ship is non of the above.

She is in fact the French Destroyer L'Adroit and here are the details of her sinking from Uboat.net:

L'Adroit (Lt.Cdr. H.M.A. Dupin de Saint-Cyr) was bombed and sunk in shallow water off Dunkirk at 1200 PM on 21 May 1940 by German Heinkel-111 aircraft. The ship didn't explode and lay on the beach of Malo-les-Bains.

Only one man was injured, the rest of the crew was safe and served on shore batteries until the French capitulation. The wreck lies in 17 meters of water in position 51º03'42"N, 02º23'20"E.

Reards, Ned.

[Wagriff]

Great researching,Ned! Mark this mystery ship as "Case Closed!" No wonder the turrets couldn't be seen-they were obliterated! They must have unloaded their full bomb load on this ship dead on!