On 23 May, during the evacuation of Crete, she was bombed and sunk, with half her crew killed. "Kelly" did succeed in shooting down three of the attacking Stukas, while another was badly damaged and crashed upon returning to base. The survivors were deeply affected by the loss of their ship; Mountbatten shared their loss and tried to console the ship's company by reminding them all that "we didn't leave the "Kelly", the "Kelly" left us!"