"Saladin" was severely damaged by air attack on 28 May 1940, while "Shikari" was the last ship to leave Dunkirk, (at 0340 hrs, 4 June 1940), with enemy troops only away.By June 1940 "Sabre", "Shikari", "Sturdy", "Scimitar", "Saladin" and "Sardonyx" (together with the last R-class destroyer, ) had formed the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla at Portsmouth; they remained there in readiness to repel a German invasion, until the autumn, when they started being allocated as escorts to Atlantic convoys.