Wednesday, 13 September

Northern Patrol - light cruiser DELHI arrived at Scapa Flow for duty with the 12th Cruiser Squadron on Northern Patrol.

Northwestern approaches - U.27 sank British trawler DAVANA (291grt/总吨位) 21 miles NW by N from Tory Island. Survivors were rescued by steamer WILLOWPOOL (4815grt/总吨位).

British northern waters - Destroyer MATABELE escorting tanker MIXOL departed Rosyth for Scapa Flow. Submarine OBERON proceeded in company and was detached at Dundee. MATABELE and MIXOL arrived at Scapa Flow on the 14th.

U-boat operations, Scottish east coast - the last two of six submarines departed Germany to operate off the Scottish coast against British warships. On the 7th, U.36 had left Kiel for Wilhelmshaven, and then with U.21, U.23, U.31 and U.35 left that port on the 9th. On the same day, U.36 sighted submarine SEAHORSE.

On the 13th, both U.14 and U.24 left Kiel, initially for operations in the Moray Firth area. U.14 went on to reconnoitre Scapa Flow until the 25th and U.24 stayed in the Moray Firth area until the 27th. By then, of the total seven U-boats– three were deployed off the Firth of Forth, one east and one southeast of Moray Firth, one in the North Sea between Shetlands and Norway, and U.24 in the Moray Firth area.

U.21 attacked a destroyer off the Firth of Forth on the 22nd, U.14 a submarine off Duncansby Head on the 24th, and U.24 destroyer FORESIGHT off the Shetlands, also on the 24th, but all failed due to torpedo defects.

British east coast - destroyer WALLACE was badly damaged in a collision with steamer REDRIFF (1577grt/总吨位) off Lowestoft and reported in danger of sinking. WALLACE was attended by destroyer WANDERER and met by tugs, temporarily repaired at Yarmouth, then taken to Hull where repairs were completed on 23 October.

Sloop WESTON ran aground on the Shipwash, was refloated without assistance and was able to proceed to Rosyth. The only damage was to her anti-submarine dome and she was soon back to duty.

Convoy FN.4 departed Southend and arrived at Methil on the 14th.

North Sea - German trawler STOLP (122grt/总吨位) was sunk in accidental collision with torpedo boat LUCHS in the North Sea.

Dutch waters - U.3 departed Wilhelmshaven for patrol off Terschelling.

Norwegian steamer RONDA (5136grt/总吨位) was mined and sunk off Terschelling in 54-10N, 4-34E, with 17 crew lost. The survivors were rescued by Italian steamer PROVVIDENZA (8459grt/总吨位).

German waters - U.6 arrived at Kiel.

U.16 was in dock in Wilhelmshaven from 13th to 29th for repair to her electrical system.

Baltic - Greek steamer KATINGO HAJIPATERA (3661grt/总吨位) was damaged on a mine off Falsterbo, Sweden and ran aground. She was refloated and proceeded the same day to Copenhagen escorted by a Swedish minesweeper.

During the night of the 13th/14th, Polish minesweepers JASKOLKA, RYBITWA, CZAJKA laid 60 mines south of Hela to prevent German battleship SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN shelling the Hela Peninsula.

Dover Straits - destroyer JAVELIN, with sister ship JERSEY in company, attacked a submarine contact near the East Goodwin Light Vessel.

Destroyer BLANCHE attacked a submarine contact five miles east of Dungeness.

English Channel - destroyer MALCOLM attacked a submarine contact 22 miles east of Guernsey.

UK-France convoy - Destroyers VENOMOUS and WREN escorted convoy MB.2 from Southampton to Brest from the 13th to 14th. The following convoy, MB.3 was cancelled.

UK-out convoys - Convoys OA.4 and OB.4A of 31 ships, departed Southend. Destroyers ANTELOPE and ACASTA departed Plymouth and escorted the convoys from North Foreland from the 13th to 16th, before arriving back at Plymouth on the 17th.

Convoy OB.4 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyers WHIRLWIND and WARWICK until the 16th.

Southwestern Approaches – U.35 was attacked by a British aircraft which dropped three bombs west of Ireland. No damage was done.

U.29 sank tug NEPTUNIA (798grt/总吨位) SW of Ireland at 49?20N, 14?40. She was en route to tow destroyer WALKER. Her 21 man crew was rescued by steamer BRINKBURN (1598grt/总吨位) after spending 28-30 hours in the ship's boat.

U.26 sighted a submarine, presumably French, south of Ireland, but was not able to attack.

Casablanca, Morocco - French minelaying cruiser LA TOUR D'AUVERGNE (CV H J E Dubois) was offloading mines at Casablanca when a mine being disarmed accidently exploded, setting off a chain reaction that blew up and destroyed the ship at anchor.

EV 1/c A E H Pugliesi-Conti was killed and CV Dubois, LV H G E O L'Hertier, Commander of Marine Detachment Lt Marc, Doctor 1/c Tarello CH MO, Reserve Officer EV 1/c Merlen, IGM 2/c Salle, Supply Officer 2/c Levaique, Reserve Officer EV 1/c Lepeque and Doctor 3/c F Brunet went missing. Two officers were wounded and some two hundred ratings killed or missing. Many of the rest of her crew of 17 officers and 407 ratings were wounded.

Trawlers ETOILE DU MATIN, SULTAN, MARIE MERVEILLEUSE were lost and a number of other ships in the harbour damaged by the explosion. Auxiliary minesweepers CHELLAH (70grt/总吨位), GOSSE (300grt/总吨位), and CHARCOT were badly damaged and not repaired. ALCOR and GRODIN were damaged.

Mediterranean - destroyers GRENADE, GRIFFIN, GARLAND, GIPSY, of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla departed Malta to escort Convoy Green 1 en route to Alexandria. On the 16th, GARLAND was damaged by the explosion of one of her depth charges dropped while steaming at slow speed. The explosion not only damaged her stern but wrenched loose another depth charge on the depth charge thrower. The second depth charge was thrown into the water and exploded under the ship. GARLAND was towed to Alexandria by GRIFFIN, arriving on the 17th. Additionally, four of GARLAND's more seriously wounded crewmen were transferred to light cruiser GALATEA which also arrived at Alexandria on the 17th. After emergency repairs, GARLAND was taken to Malta in October for repair, which lasted until 16 May 1940.

Heavy cruiser SUSSEX struck a submerged wreck with her propeller in the Ionian Sea and docked at Malta on the 13th.

Chinese waters - Heavy cruiser KENT departed Hong Kong on patrol, and arrived back on the 28th.