Saturday, 2 September

British Home waters - battlecruiser RENOWN escorted by destroyer SARDONYX departed Portsmouth for Scapa Flow, arriving on the 4th.

Aircraft carrier COURAGEOUS escorted by destroyer STURDY departed Portland before dawn, and arrived at Plymouth later that day.

Destroyer ENCOUNTER departed Portland at 0545 and arrived at Plymouth.

Baltic - Polish naval auxiliary ships GYDNIE (538grt/总吨位) and GDANSK (538grt/总吨位) were sunk by German bombing in the Gulf of Gdansk.

Polish submarine SEP unsuccessfully attacked German destroyer FRIEDRICH IHN at 1238 with one torpedo, north of Heisternest. SEP was damaged in the counterattack, but able to continue on patrol.

German waters - Commander Reconnaissance Forces with light cruisers K?LN, LEIPZIG, NüRNBERG in the Baltic was ordered to the North Sea.

U-boat movements - U.31, U.32, and U.35 were in the Baltic near Hela to mine the approaches to the Gulf of Danzig. However, the escape of the Polish destroyers made these operations unnecessary and they were transferred from the Baltic to the Atlantic, first arriving at Wilhelmshaven. From there:

U.32 set out on patrol on the 5th,

U.31 and U.35 on the 9th,

U.31 and U.35 were ordered to patrol areas west and south of England, respectively, and U.32 to lay mines off the Bristol Channel on the 17th.

French Force de Raid, Atlantic - the Brest-based Force of battlecruisers DUNKERQUE, STRASBOURG, light cruisers GEORGES LEYGUES, GLOIRE, MONTCALM and large destroyers L'AUDACIEUX, LE FANTASQUE, LE MALIN, LE TERRIBLE, LE TRIOMPHANT, L'INDOMPTABLE, MOGADOR, VOLTA was ordered to Casablanca at high speed to protect the North African ports from attack from the sea, departing at 2000/2nd. The 2nd Destroyer Division of destroyers FOUGUEUX, FRONDEUR, L'ADROIT and 5th Division BRESTOIS, BOULONNNAIS, FOUDROYANT left Brest on the 2nd as local escort and to carry out an anti-submarine sweep in the local approaches. The local escort returned to Brest on the 3rd.

Minelaying cruiser LA TOUR D'AUVERGNE (former PLUTON), also at Brest, sailed with the Force de Raid to lay a defensive minefield off the Moroccan coast. She was detached on the 4th and arrived, unescorted, at Casablanca on the 5th, where she remained until her loss on the 13th.

When intelligence revealed the threat did not exist, the operations were cancelled and the forces arrived back at Brest at 0740 on the 6th. They received an additional escort from the 4th Destroyer Division with destroyers BOURRASQUE, ORAGE, OURAGAN, which departed Brest on the 5th.

French naval forces, Mediterranean - The French 2nd Second Squadron, battleships PROVENCE, BRETAGNE, LORRAINE with the nine destroyers of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla, which had departed Toulon 31 August, arrived at Oran on the 2nd. The Squadron carried on and arrived at Gibraltar on the 3rd.

The French 3rd Squadron arrived back at Toulon on the 2nd after covering convoy R.3.

Later that day, heavy cruisers, ALGéRIE, COLBERT, DUPLEIX, FOCH, TOURVILLE with destroyers CHEVALIER PAUL, TARTU, VAUQUELIN of the 5th Large Destroyer Division, GERFAUT and VAUTOUR of the 7th Large Division, and CASSARD, KERSAINT,MAILLé BRéZé of the 9th Large Division departed Toulon and arrived at Oran on the 3rd.

Mediterranean - Light cruiser ARETHUSA and the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla (less IMOGEN and ICARUS) departed Alexandria to patrol between Cape Matapan and Crete.

The destroyers arrived at Malta on the 4th, where they joined IMOGEN which earlier had been sent to Marseilles with dispatches, reaching Malta on the 3rd. All the destroyers then carried on to Gibraltar, arriving on the 5th to operate out of there on anti-submarine duties in the Atlantic.

Central and South Atlantic - Convoy AB.1 of British tankers BRITISH ARDOUR (7124grt, Cdre Mr H Fulcher), BRITISH LOYALTY (6993grt/总吨位), BRITISH PRINCESS (7019grt/总吨位), BRITISH MOTORIST (6891grt/总吨位), BRITISH PROGRESS (4581grt/总吨位) and steamers CITY OF HEREFORD (5105grt/总吨位), CITY OF SHANGHAI (5828grt/总吨位) ROWANBANK (5102grt/总吨位) departed Gibraltar for Capetown. BRITISH FAITH (6955grt/总吨位) had broken down just after weighing anchor and did not proceed with the convoy.

Light cruisers DAUNTLESS and DESPATCH (9th Cruiser Squadron) departed Gibraltar at 1930 and proceeded with the convoy.

Destroyers DOUGLAS, WATCHMAN, WISHART, WRESTLER of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla joined the convoy at 2200/2nd and carried out anti-submarine sweeps, before leaving at 0805/3rd.

Light cruiser DURBAN departed Gibraltar for Freetown where she arrived on the 8th with seaplane tender ALBATROSS.

DAUNTLESS was detached on the 11th and arrived at Freetown on the 13th.

On the 13th DESPATCH turned the convoy over to DURBAN which had departed Freetown on the 12th.

DESPATCH reached Freetown on the 14th. DURBAN reached Capetown on the 29th.

Indian Ocean - destroyers DECOY, DEFENDER, DELIGHT, DUCHESS which had departed Hong Kong on 28 August, left Singapore on the 2nd en route to join the Mediterranean Fleet.

Pacific - New Zealand light cruiser ACHILLES en route to the West Indies from New Zealand received orders to patrol off the west coast of South America.