List of ships at Dunkirk

Name (Pennant Number) These are listed in alphabetical order disregarding any ship prefixes, which are not used by the French or Belgians. Pennant numbers are provided in brackets where known. These were generally displayed on the ship's hull, though not on destroyer leaders such as HMS Montrose (D01/I01). In May–June 1940 the Royal Navy was in the process of re-allocating the pennant numbers of many of its destroyers, in most cases the number remained the same whilst the initial letter (known as the flag superior) changed, D and F became I and G respectively. Where it has not been possible to confirm which was being displayed on a destroyer at the time of Dunkirk, both have been shown in brackets.

Flag The ensign flown by each vessel to indicate its nationality. The civil ensigns of France and Belgium, as well as the naval ensign of France, are the same as their national flag, although with differing dimensions. The United Kingdom uses the White Ensign for all commissioned naval vessels and the Red Ensign for civilian vessels, collectively known as the Merchant Navy. The Blue Ensign was used for non-naval vessels in Government service, for example hospital ships and troopships. There is some evidence they flew the Admiralty Ensign, now known as the Government Service Ensign, but this has not been confirmed by any photographic evidence from World War II.

Tonnage Different measures are commonly used for the size of commercial and naval vessels: Gross register tonnage (GRT) is the total internal volume of commercial vessels, including those requisitioned and converted for naval use, whilst displacement is the weight of water displaced by the hull, used for fleet naval vessels such as destroyers, fleet minesweepers and sloops. These are therefore not comparable but have been placed in the same column for conciseness.