Thursday, 7 September

Atlantic - ten German submarines on patrol in the Atlantic were ordered to return to Germany for replenishment.

Home Fleet - Adm Forbes returned to sea at 0730 with battleships NELSON (Flag) and RODNEY, battlecruiser REPULSE, aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL, light cruisers AURORA, SHEFFIELD, and destroyers FAULKNOR, FIREDRAKE, FORESIGHT, FORTUNE, FURY, ASHANTI, BEDOUIN, MASHONA, PUNJABI, SOMALI, TARTAR. Missing were ESKIMO and MATABELE repairing defects and FAME, FEARLESS, FORESTER, FOXHOUND standing by at Scapa Flow..

FIREDRAKE attacked a submarine contact at 1730 and claimed a sinking, FORESIGHT returned on the 8th with defects, and ASHANTI had turbine problems, arrived at Greenock on the 8th and repaired at the Denny yard at Dunbarton from the12th to 27th.

The force patrolled off the Norwegian coast as far north as 63° north to intercept any German shipping and returned to Scapa Flow on the 10th without any results partly due to poor visibility.

Hebrides - Polish destroyer BLYSKAWICA with destroyer BURZA attacked a submarine contact 10 miles south of Uist.

British east coast – destroyers JERVIS and JERSEY attacked a submarine contact off Fidra island, Firth of Forth.

The first of the Thames-to-Methil coastal convoys, FN.1, departed the Thames Estuary, escorted by destroyers WHITLEY, WITCH and sloop PELICAN, and arrived at Methil on the 9th.

Destroyer JACKAL attacked a submarine contact in the Thames Estuary.

Norwegian waters - German steamer VEGESACK (4061grt/总吨位), which had departed Santa Marta, Colombia, on 17 August, was lost when she ran aground off Jaeren, near Flatoe in the Stavanger area.

German steamer ALBERT (788grt/总吨位) departed Bergen on the 5th. Although challenged by destroyer FEARLESS off Kristiansand on the 7th, she was able to escape into Norwegian waters and arrived safely at Hamburg on the 11th.

German waters - U.10 departed Kiel to patrol in the Kattegat, returning on the 17th, U.14 departed Swinemünde, while U.18 arrived there and departed later that day for Kiel, arriving on the 8th.

Baltic - the Polish Westerplatte fortifications, at which German battleship SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN had fired the first shots of the war, fell to German forces, and the bombardment of the fort ceased.

Polish submarine RYS laid ten mines off the Vistula Estuary at 54-42N, 19-04E.

U.22 in the Baltic unsuccessfully attacked Polish submarine ZBIK on patrol.

The German submarines still in the Baltic for the Polish operations were withdrawn for duty in the North Sea.

Dover Straits - destroyer BRAZEN attack a submarine contact off South Foreland.

English Channel - destroyer WREN departed Portsmouth and escorted submarine NARWHAL as far as 4.

Destroyer SARDONYX departed Portsmouth escorting submarine OBERON to join a convoy at Orfordness on the 10th.

Destroyer STURDY departed Devonport on escort duty and arrived at Milford Haven on the 10th.

steamer BEN LOWERS (5943grt/总吨位) was attacked by a submarine off Land's End. Destroyers KEITH and VENETIA were sent to hunt for U-boat.

UK-out convoys - The first of the Thames through the Channel-to-Halifax convoys, OA.1, departed the Thames Estuary for Halifax. Escorting destroyers ACASTA, AMAZON, ANTELOPE left Devonport at 0733/7th and at 1740 in the Downs, passed destroyers BASILISK, BRAZEN, BRILLIANT. At 1855, the escorting destroyers met the 17 ships of the convoy.

Southwestern approaches/off Bay of Biscay - U.33 sank steamer OLIVE GROVE (4060grt/总吨位) 250 miles SW of Fastnet in 49?05N, 15?58 and the survivors were picked up by American steamer WASHINGTON (7030grt/总吨位)

U.34 sank steamer PUKKASTAN (5809grt/总吨位) 70 miles SW of Land's End in 49?23N, 07?49, and the entire crew was picked up by Dutch steamer BILDERDYK (6856grt/总吨位).

U.47 sank steamer GARTAVON (1777grt/总吨位) 260 miles WNW from Cape Finisterre in 47?04N, 11?32, and the entire crew of 22 were picked up by Swedish tanker CASTOR (8714grt/总吨位) and taken to the Azores.

U.37 unsuccessfully attacked steamer DEFENDER (8200grt/总吨位) 170 miles SW from Cape Finisterre. steamer RICHMOND HILL (5491grt/总吨位) and tanker DE TAMAHA (6496grt/总吨位) also reported being attacked by submarines (also U.37) 140 miles by N and 145 miles by S of Cape Finisterre, respectively.

3rd Destroyer Flotilla, Mediterranean to UK - the 3rd Flotilla, less ICARUS under repair at Malta, departed Malta on the 5th and arrived at Gibraltar on the 6th. The rest of the Flotilla, less INTREPID delayed by engine room defects at Gibraltar, departed on the 7th. INTREPID was able to sail on the 9th.

ILEX, IMOGEN, IMPERIAL, IVANHOE arrived at Plymouth on the 9th.

On the 9th, 270 miles west of Cape St Vincent in 36-47N, 14-16, INGLEFIELD and the 12th Destroyer Sub-Division attacked a submarine contact. IMPULSIVE, INGLEFIELD, INTREPID, ISIS arrived back at Gibraltar on the 11th and then sailed for Plymouth.

On the 12th, INGLEFIELD and INTREPID attacked submarine contacts.

On the 14th, INTREPID with destroyer VESPER, 17th Flotilla attacked a submarine in the Bristol Channel 80 miles SW of Milford Haven and claimed a sinking.

After steamer BAHARISTAN (5479grt/总吨位) was attacked just before midnight in Mounts Bay, INTREPID, en route to Plymouth to refuel, attacked a submarine contact at 0115/15th which destroyer AMAZON was also searching for.

IMPULSIVE, INGLEFIELD, IVANHOE arrived at Plymouth late on the 14th for refuelling, followed by INTREPID early on the 15th.

Mediterranean convoys - convoying began with those proceeding east called “Green”, westbound called “Blue” and troop convoys designated “Red”. Escorted convoying continued only until 16 October and was completely abandoned on 2 December.

Convoy AB.2 Slow departed Gibraltar with 25 merchant ships on the 7th. Redesignated Green 1, it was escorted by destroyers DOUGLAS, VELOX, VIDETTE, VORTIGERN from the 7th to 10th and also joined by French destroyers L'ALCYON and TROMBE. At 1845/9th, VIDETTE attacked a submarine contact off Oran.

On the 10th, the escorts were relieved by destroyers COSSACK, MAORI, NUBIAN, ZULU which stayed until the 13th. French torpedo boats POMONE joined from 0745/10th until 0700/12th and IPHEGENIA from 0700/12th to 1230/12th to assist the escort between Algiers and Malta. On the 11th, COSSACK and ZULU attacked a submarine contact.

From Malta on the 13th, the convoy was escorted by destroyers GARLAND, GIPSY, GRENADE, GRIFFIN, but GARLAND was damaged on the 16th and detached to Alexandria with GRIFFIN. Sloop ABERDEEN joined on the 14th until the 16th, while GIPSY and GRENADE remained with the convoy until its arrival at Alexandria on the 18th.

Central and South Atlantic - heavy cruiser CUMBERLAND arrived at Freetown from Plymouth, then departed for Rio de Janiero on the 9th, arriving on the 15th.

Heavy cruiser EXETER arrived at Rio de Janiero and at 0100/8th sailed for Montevideo.