The Dutch troop ship was part of a convoy evacuating about 3,000 British , Australian and New Zealand troops from Nafplio in the Peloponnese . As the convoy headed south in the Argolic Gulf on the morning of 27 April , it was attacked by a '' Staffel '' of nine Junkers Ju 87s of Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 , damaging '' Slamat '' and setting her on fire . The destroyer rescued about 600 survivors and came to her aid , but as the two destroyers headed for Souda Bay in Crete another Ju 87 attack sank them both . The total number of deaths from the three sinkings was almost 1,000 . Only 27 crew from '' Wryneck '' , 20 crew from '' Diamond '' , 11 crew and eight evacuated soldiers from '' Slamat '' survived
the three sinkings
Slamat disaster
Battle of Greece