leave Dunkirk with troops on 4 June when the evacuation ended. She brought out 3,419 troops over the course of the operation. The ships of the 20th Flotilla resumed minelaying operations on 15 June, although most of these over the next several months were defensive in nature. On the evening of 31 August 1940, Express, Esk, Icarus, Intrepid, and Ivanhoe departed Immingham to lay an offensive minefield off Texel, with cover provided by three destroyers of the 5th DF. At 23:07 it became clear that the ships of the 20th Flotilla had entered a German minefield when Express struck a mine abreast 'B' gun, losing her entire bow up to the bridge. The detonation killed 4 officers and 54 ratings; one officer and 7 crewmen were later rescued by the Germans. Esk and Ivanhoe, the closest ships to Express, closed to render assistance, while the other two destroyers turned hard to starboard and retraced their route to exit the minefield, according to standing orders. Five minutes after the first mine detonated, Esks bow struck a mine and she came to a stop. Five minutes later Ivanhoe struck another mine that badly damaged her bow. At about 23:20, Esk struck another mine amidships that detonated her magazines. By 01:40, Express had managed to raise steam again and steamed astern to minimise the pressure of the water on her shored-up bulkheads. The Admiralty dispatched nine motor torpedo boats (MTB) to go to the assistance of Express and Ivanhoe once they had been notified of the incident by Intrepid and ordered that the destroyers of the 5th DF were not to enter the minefield. Captain Louis Mountbatten of the 5th DF complied until he received the report of a Royal Air Force Lockheed Hudson bomber that had spotted the two damaged destroyers about 07:00 about east of his position. The MTBs reached the ships first, around 08:00, and evacuated all of Expresss crew. Mountbatten's destroyers spotted Express around 08:40, and took her in tow, stern first, twenty minutes later. The tow cable, however, fouled one of Kelvins propellers and had to be cut. then took over the tow. The threat of aerial attack at 19:45 forced Jupiter to slip her tow and allow one of the attending tugboats to take over the task. Express finally arrived at Hull at 17:30 on 2 September 1940. The ship was under repair at Chatham Dockyard until