Wednesday, 11 October

Destroyer BEAGLE attacked a submarine contact in 51?17N, 01?42.7E.

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Destroyers WINCHELSEA and WALPOLE with convoy KJ.1B attacked a submarine contact 11 miles from Great Ormes Head, later determined to be a wreck.

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Convoy OA.18 of nine ships departed Southend and dispersed on the 17th, possibly escorted by destroyers MONTROSE and VIVACIOUS which departed Milford Haven on the 9th.

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Convoy OB.18 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyers VERSATILE and MACKAY until the 14th.

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Convoy BC.10F of troopship ULSTER PRINCE departed the Loire escorted by destroyers EXPRESS and ENCOUNTER, and arrived safely in the Bristol Channel on the 12th.

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Three cruisers were on Northern Patrol duty, while light cruiser SHEFFIELD was on a special patrol between Iceland and Greenland.

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Heavy cruiser DEVONSHIRE departed Alexandria for Malta, arriving on the 13th for repairs to her rudder, which were completed on the 21st. She left on the 24th and arrived back at Alexandria on the 26th.

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Destroyers HARDY, HASTY, HOSTILE, HEREWARD and HERO departed Malta on the 2nd and Gibraltar on the 5th for duty with the South Atlantic Command at Freetown. HEREWARD and HERO, escorting liner ATHLONE CASTLE, arrived at Freetown on the 11th, while HARDY, HASTY, HOSTILE joined aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL and battlecruiser RENOWN in 11-50N, 21-00, also on the 11th. These ships arrived at Freetown on the 12th and after replenishment put back to sea on the 14th for patrol duties.

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Convoy Blue 4 departed Port Said with 29 ships on the 11th, escorted by destroyers DAINTY and DUNCAN. Minesweeper SUTTON brought two ships from Alexandria on the 12th to join the convoy. DUNCAN departed at 0545/16th to refuel at Malta and rejoined in the Malta Channel at 1415/16th with French destroyer KERSAINT.

DAINTY and minesweeper SUTTON left in the Malta Channel on the 16th, and DUNCAN and KERSAINT were relieved by destroyers GRAFTON and GALLANT on the 17th. The two G-class destroyers remained until the 18th when Mediterranean convoying was discontinued. The convoy arrived safely at Gibraltar on the 21st.

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Destroyer DIANA arrived at Suez from Singapore to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet.

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Submarine SEAL, passing through the Mediterranean en route to the Home Fleet, escorted damaged destroyer GARLAND which was towed by netlayer PROTECTOR, from Alexandria to Malta where they arrived on the 11th. General submarine movements at this time follow:

Group 1, PORPOISE, CACHALOT, SEAL departed Malta on the 11th, escorted by PROTECTOR as far as Galita Island. PROTECTOR returned to Malta to meet Group 2, SEALION, SALMON, SHARK and SNAPPER and escorted them later the same day to Galita Island. Both groups reached Gibraltar on the 15th and left on the 16th for Portsmouth, with Group 1 arriving on the 20th and Group 2 on the 22nd.

SNAPPER went directly into dock with engine problems which had caused problems on passage from Gibraltar. Repairs completed on the 28th and she went to Sheerness for docking from 2 to 11 November. CACHALOT and SEAL were shortly sent to Halifax to escort convoys, while PORPOISE arrived at Chatham on the 24th for refitting.

SEALION, SALMON, SHARK were almost immediately deployed off the Dogger Bank on a patrol line, which ended on 4 November when they were ordered to Rosyth. SEALION, SALMON, SHARK, SNAPPER, along with SUNFISH, STERLET of the 2nd Submarine Flotilla and depot ship CYCLOPS, formed the 3rd Submarine Flotilla. The Flotilla was based at Harwich and began operations in late November.

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Convoy HGF.3 departed Gibraltar with steamer NARKUNDA (16,632grt/总吨位) the only ship in the convoy.

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Petty Officer T E Clark was killed when his Sea Gladiator of 802 Squadron from aircraft carrier GLORIOUS crashed in Lake Maruit, Alexandria.

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Heavy cruiser CORNWALL departed Colombo on patrol and arrived back on 3 November.

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Light cruiser LIVERPOOL departed Bombay to search for German raiders in the Seychelles area, Amirante Group, and Providence, Farquhar, Aldabara anchorages. The patrol ended on 13 November when she arrived at Colombo.