"Aberdonia" was requisitioned to work as a patrol boat in the Royal Navy attached to HMS "Fervant" in 1940, at which time she was renamed "Navigator". She participated in the evacuation of Allied troops at Dunkirk. The yacht is believed to have made four trips to the shore to take on men cut off by the German army. She worked with the minesweepers and ferried sealed orders between the Admiralty and convoys lying off Shoeburyness and Deal.