HMS Basilisk (H11) was a B-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service during World War II. It was sunk off the coast of Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo. HMS Brilliant The B class was a class of nine destroyers of the Royal Navy, launched in 1930. ... USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian... Carnival in Dunkirk. ... French troops rescued by a British merchant ship at Dunkirk Operation Dynamo (or Dunkirk Evacuation or just Dunkirk) was the name given to the World War II mass evacuation of Allied soldiers from May 26 to June 4, 1940, during the Battle of Dunkirk. ...