Dunkirk ship to mark 80th birthday with Buckler's Hard visit

Now the former HMS Medusa is set to mark her 80th birthday by tying up alongside the maritime village of Buckler's Hard, where visitors will be able to tour the vessel.

Her role in the 2017 movie Dunkirk was to take soldiers - including One Direction’s Harry Styles - out to a destroyer.

The former HMS Medusa, which took part in the D-Day landings in 1944, is visiting Buckler's Hard in September (Image: Beaulieu Estate)

Visitors will be able to talk to the crew and learn more about the vessel's history, including her appearance in the movie, which also starred Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance and Tom Hardy.

Built at Poole in 1943, Medusa was one of more than 400 ships that provided an anti-submarine defence for harbours.

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The following year Medusa played a key role in the Normandy landings, arriving off Omaha Beach on the night before the invasion and remaining there for 30 hours. Her job was to mark the entrance to a narrow channel through a German minefield.

She was later moved to Scotland, working out of Granton as escort to a minesweeping flotilla.

Harry Styles filming scenes for the 2017 movie Dunkirk at Swanage (Image: Finnbarr Webster)

In 1945 Medusa went to Ostend in Belgium before going to IJmuiden in the Netherlands, where her crew accepted the surrender of the occupying German forces. From there she travelled along the North Sea Canal to Amsterdam - the first Allied ship to do so - and was there on VE Day.

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Following 25 years' service she was sold by the Admiralty in 1968 and looked set to be scrapped.

But she was bought by a group of enthusiasts from Weymouth and painstakingly restored over a period of 18 years.

The Medusa Trust was formed in 2002 to take on the ownership of the vessel and raise funds for further restoration work.

Troops arrive back in Britain in 1944 after being evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk (Image: PA)

The Trust is a registered charity that aims to preserve her for future generations. Its priority is to ensure she stays at sea for as long as possible as a tribute to veterans. Her other role is to inspire and educate young people.

Medusa currently operates out of Haslar Marina at Gosport.

Built entirely of wood and powered by diesel engines, she was one of 464 vessels of her class but is the only one still in original and seagoing condition. She is among 200 ships that comprise the National Historic Fleet.

Entry to Buckler’s Hard is free but voluntary donations to the Medusa Trust would be welcomed.