WWII - HMS Medway Queen

Additional detail of HMS Medway Queen's activities in WWII is still coming in and being added to our archive.

A better summary of crew at Dunkirk and soldiers known to have been evacuated by our ship has been prepared and added to the website as a PDF file.

We still have many gaps in the wartime story. If you can help with detail of her career at any stage of the war (or any other time) please get in touch.

History Page

Much of the information in the new document ​has been gleaned from back numbers of our magazine "Full Ahead" and its predecessor "Medway Queen News". Some has come from recent visitors to the ship or correspondence received and followed up. The document contains the names of those who crewed HMS Medway Queen at the time of Dunkirk but not later in the war.

A notable recent addition to our knowledge was the content of a diary kept by Jack Skinner on board HMS Medway Queen which includes the Dunkirk operation. I am pleased to report that it confirms much of what we thought we knew and adds some detail such as Lt. Cook joining as CO on 20th May 1940. We previously did not have an exact date for that. He also mentions a visit by the King on 14th March and their passage to Portsmouth for repairs after Dunkirk.

Photo above: Dunkirk. Courtesy of PSPS Collection.