Ireland’s Unofficial Naval Action – MTB M2 at Dunkirk 1940 | Season 5 – Episode 90
Floats Nov 11, 2025
In May 1940, a crew from the fledgling Irish Marine Service travelled to Hampshire, England, to collect M2, a new Motor Torpedo Boat, the second of six ordered from Thornycroft of Hampton on Thames. With the Dunkirk (Dunkerque) evacuation, Operation Dynamo underway, delivery was delayed. Eyewitnesses recall the Irish crew volunteering alongside Thornycroft personnel to man M2, making two crossings to the beaches of Dunkirk. When the operation ended, their mission complete, the Irishmen were sworn to secrecy, having taken part in what became Ireland’s first, though unofficial, naval action.Please
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WORLD WAR TWO
When the Second World War began on September 1st, 1939, following Germany’s invasion of Poland, the Irish government quickly recognised the need to defend national neutrality. The Marine and Coastwatching Service was formed that month with over a thousand men in twelve companies providing port security, based at the reactivated former Royal Navy base on Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour.
With no modern naval force to patrol Irish waters, the government set out to build a small maritime fleet, ordering two Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) from John I. Thornycroft & Company of Hampton on Thames, England. Tasked with coastal defence and port security, the MTBs carried out mine-laying in Cork and Waterford, regulated merchant shipping, maintained navigational aids, and undertook fishery protection patrols during the war.
MOLOTOV–RIBBENTROP PACT
By fortunate timing for the Irish government, Thornycroft already had two suitable vessels available: M1, originally built for the Estonian Navy, and M2, for the Latvian Navy. However, neither was delivered after both countries fell under the Soviet “sphere of influence” from the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The Irish government took advantage of the cancelled orders and purchased both vessels for the newly established Marine Service.
FIRST MTB DELIVERY
In January 1940, a crew from the Marine and Coastwatching Service travelled to Southampton to collect the first Motor Torpedo Boat, designated M1, and sail her home to Haulbowline Island. Around this time, the original order for two MTBs was expanded to six vessels to strengthen Ireland’s emerging maritime defence force.
OPERATION DYNAMO
In May 1940, a second Irish delivery crew was sent to Southampton to collect the Motor Torpedo Boat M2. Their visit coincided with the launch of Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from France. Initially planned to last two days and rescue 45,000 troops, the operation continued for nine days, from May 26th to June 4th, evacuating 338,226 Allied soldiers. Described by Winston Churchill as a “miracle of deliverance,” it became a defining moment and a vital boost to British morale.
MTB M2 AT DUNKIRK
Accounts differ on the decision of the Irish MTB crew to join Operation Dynamo in what was a serious breach of Irish neutrality. The majority of accounts seem to claim that the Irish skipper of M2, once a Royal Navy man, asked his crew to volunteer to join Operation Dynamo and that they were then joined by the Thornycroft yard men.
Perhaps the Captain’s decision was shaped by the knowledge that as many as 5,000 Irish soldiers had left the Defence Forces to join the British Armed Forces during the war, and that among those waiting on the beaches of Dunkirk were likely many of his fellow countrymen.
Author Robert Widders, in his book ‘Spitting on a Soldier’s Grave’, recounts the experience of Gerry O’Neill, a Dubliner originally from Cork who was on the M2 crew. “He asked us (the captain) if we’d volunteer,” Gerry O’Neill recounted. “Which we did. We made two trips across the channel. We brought back mostly walking wounded. Those lads didn’t know who we were. I think they thought we were Free French (Forces) because we had ‘FF’ on our caps.”
The “FF” letters O’Neill is referring to signify ‘Fianna Fáil’. The word ‘Fianna’ is the name of the ancient military organisation (circa 3rd Century A.D.) forming what then corresponded to the standing Army of the country. The word ‘Fáil’ means ‘Destiny’.
OFFICIAL OPERATION?
No official records exist, from eyewitness accounts we believe the Irish crew were sworn to secrecy and the Irish Military Archives hold nothing on file, as the mission was never formally acknowledged.
In early June, M2 was released by the British authorities, and her delivery crew sailed her home to Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour. Later that same year, in August, M3 was delivered.
By 1941, the Marine Service had grown to a fleet of ten vessels, six motor torpedo boats and the Muirchú, Fort Rannock, the minelayer Shark, and sail training vessel Isaalt, with around three hundred personnel of all ranks, based at Haulbowline Island. In 1946, this service evolved into what we now know as the Irish Naval Service. The six Irish Motor Torpedo Boats served in coastal defence and port security during The Emergency before being decommissioned in 1948.
IRISH NEUTRALITY WW2
During The Emergency, Ireland under Éamon de Valera maintained a policy of neutrality often described as “benevolent.” While officially non-aligned, the government quietly aided the Allies through intelligence sharing, weather reports, and discreet handling of downed airmen, a balance between independence and quiet support. In that context, MTB M2’s involvement at Dunkirk may have been an unofficial, yet quietly sanctioned, act of co-operation. The actions of the crew in May 1940 may have reflected the enduring ties between the peoples of these islands or perhaps was simply a shared sense of humanity amid the chaos of war.
If you have an idea for a story, please email Kevin Reid at [email protected]
Check out our previous video-story on “WW2 flying boats, Irish neutrality & secret deals”
Sources of Information, Photo & Video Credits:
Brassey’s Naval Annual 1915
Coast Monkey – blog
Cork Ship Wrecks – blog
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
Defence Forces website
Irish Military Online Blog
Irish Naval Service Facebook page
National Maritime College of Ireland
Neutral Ireland’s navy participated in the historic Dunkirk evacuation – Belfast Newsletter
Pathé Gazette
Spitting on A Soldier’s Grave – Robert Widders
Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette – British Newspaper Archive
Vosper Thornycroft Built Warships’ by Trevor Piper
WarShip Research
WW2 People’s War – BBC
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