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The paddle steamer Gracie Fields had been taken up into @RoyalNavy service at the start of #WW2 as a minesweeper & was bombed off La Panne on this day 1940, sinking the following morning. She became synonymous with the #Dunkirk evacuation thanks to JB Priestly's BBC broadcast.
"the glittering queen of our local line" Gracie Fields was one of "the little holiday steamers [that] made an excursion to hell and came back glorious" bbc.co.uk/archive/postsc…
HMS Pangbourne, commanded by Lt/Cdr Francis Douglas-Watson, was one of the @RoyalNavy's purpose-built Hunt Class minesweepers, built in #WW1, she survived #WW2 & along with others helped clear mines, as well as rescue troops from #Dunkirk
