Sunday, 10 December

On Northern Patrol, two cruisers were between the Orkneys and the Shetlands, and four cruisers between the Shetlands and Iceland.

Armed merchant cruisers TRANSYLVANIA, WORCESTERSHIRE, ASTURIAS and ANDANIA arrived in the Clyde after Northern Patrol duties. SCOTSTOUN was due to arrive with them, but was delayed by weather and only reached the Clyde on the 11th. Armed merchant cruisers CANTON and DERBYSHIRE departed the Clyde for Portsmouth.

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WITHDRAWAL OF C AND D-CLASS CRUISERS FROM NORTHERN PATROL

The old C and D-class light cruisers began to be withdrawn from the Northern Patrol as they were relieved by armed merchant cruisers. The first ones to leave for less arduous stations were CARDIFF, CERES, COLOMBO and DRAGON. All the ships were refitted and by the spring of 1940 had been reassigned:

CALEDON and CALYPSO of the 7th Cruiser Squadron to the Mediterranean Fleet. They arrived on station late December to relieve light cruisers ARETHUSA and PENELOPE for duty in Home Waters. DRAGON, also 7th Cruiser Squadron, which was refitting at Chatham until the end of February, arrived at Malta on 12 March 1940. From the 11th Cruiser Squadron, DELHI, after completing her refit at Belfast at the end of January, arrived at Malta on 6 February to relieve light cruiser GALATEA.

CARADOC and DESPATCH had arrived in the West Indies in October, and were joined by DIOMEDE of the 7th Cruiser Squadron, which left Plymouth for Bermuda on 6 February. She had completed her refit in late January and relieved light cruiser ORION.

CARDIFF, 7th Cruiser Squadron completed her refit at Plymouth at the end of January and was to have joined the 8th Cruiser Squadron in the America and West Indies Station. Instead she was assigned to the Gunnery School as a Training Ship, arriving at Portland on 23 February with a reduced complement for this duty. After the invasion of France and during the invasion threat of the summer of 1940, CARDIFF served in the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, Home Fleet, but in October 1940, she returned to the Gunnery School.

DUNEDIN, 11th Cruiser Squadron took CARDIFF’S place. She departed Portsmouth for Bermuda on 6 February, and arrived on station in mid-month to relieve Australian light cruiser PERTH, which in turn relieved New Zealand light cruiser ACHILLES in the South Atlantic. ACHILLES headed for duty in the East Indies.

CERES sailed for the East Indies, via the Mediterranean leaving Scapa Flow on the 28th, and COLOMBO, 11th Squadron joined the 9th Cruiser Squadron in the East Indies, also via the Mediterranean departing Scapa on the 30th.

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Light cruiser SHEFFIELD arrived at Wallsend for docking from the 11th to 17th for repairs, leaving on the 18th.

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HM King George VI took passage in destroyer CODRINGTON from Dover to Boulogne escorted by destroyers BASILISK, BEAGLE, BOADICEA, BOREAS and BRILLIANT. The King and the ships arrived back at Dover that night.

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Destroyers JERVIS, JUNO, JAGUAR, JANUS and JUPITER departed the Humber to sweep for U-boats off Terschelling. No contact was made and they arrived back on the 11th.

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Sloop ABERDEEN, on convoy escort with destroyer WAKEFUL, attacked a submarine contact 24 miles 145° from the Owers and then rejoined the convoy. Destroyer ACHERON was sent to investigate, but in St Helen's Bay on the 11th, the starboard engine failed and put her out of action.

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Patrol sloop PUFFIN attacked a submarine contact in 50-06N, 3-50.

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Destroyer FORESTER attacked a submarine contact in 57-59N, 05-25. Patrol sloop KINGFISHER also searched the area.

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Destroyer WOLVERINE, escorting steamer TONGARIRO in tow, attacked a submarine contact in 49?49N, 05?25. She was joined by destroyer KEITH, but the contact was not regained.

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After delivering Force to Rosyth, destroyers SOMALI and BEDOUIN proceeded to the Clyde. Sister ship MASHONA escorted tanker DAGHESTAN from Invergordon to Scapa Flow, and also proceeded to the Clyde.

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Destroyer GURKHA arrived at Portsmouth for docking.

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Sloop FLAMINGO departed Leith at 1300 for Rosyth after completing repairs following her November collision. She joined sloop PELICAN off Inchkeith at 1530 and both headed for the Tyne.

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Convoy OA.50G departed Southend with 36 ships escorted by destroyers VISCOUNT and ANTELOPE, and on the 11th merged with OB.50G, escorted by destroyers WITHERINGTON and VIMY to form OG.10 - a total of 56 ships. VISCOUNT, ANTELOPE, WITHERINGTON and VIMY were all with the convoy from the 11th to 13th when VISCOUNT and ANTELOPE detached to HG.10. French destroyers JAGUAR and LéOPARD, which departed Brest on the 12th, escorted from the 13th to 18th, when the convoy arrived at Gibraltar. The day before, the 17th, destroyer WISHART had joined off Gibraltar.

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Soviet submarine S.1 sank German steamer BOLHEIM (3324grt/总吨位) with gunfire off Rauma near Bjorneborg.

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Soviet submarine SC.322 sank German steamer REINBEK (2884grt/总吨位), en route from Leningrad to Oskarshamn on the west coast of Sweden, in the Gulf of Finland.

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Soviet submarine SC.323 sank Estonian steamer KASSARI (379grt/总吨位) off Uto with the loss of one member of crew.

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Dutch steamer IMMINGHAM (398grt/总吨位) struck a mine off Kallautsoog, off the Dutch coast and sank on the 11th; her crew of seven was rescued.

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Norwegian steamer JOTUN (534grt/总吨位) was lost by grounding south of Berwick.

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Steamer FIRE KING (758grt/总吨位) was sunk in collision with steamer DUKE OF LANCASTER (3814grt/总吨位) in the Irish Sea off the Isle of Man.

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French heavy cruiser ALGéRIE arrived at Casablanca.

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SAILING OF CANADIAN TROOP CONVOY TC.1

Canadian troop convoy TC.1, consisting of troopships MONARCH OF BERMUDA (22,424grt/总吨位), EMPRESS OF BRITAIN (42,348grt/总吨位), DUCHESS OF BEDFORD (20,123grt/总吨位), EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA (19,665grt/总吨位) and AQUITANIA (45,647grt/总吨位) carrying 961, 1,303, 1,312, 1,235 and 2,638 troops respectively, departed Halifax. The convoy was escorted out of Halifax by Canadian destroyers OTTAWA, FRASER, RESTIGOUCHE and ST LAURENT, and battleship RESOLUTION provided heavy support.

Battlecruiser REPULSE and aircraft carrier FURIOUS had just arrived at Halifax escorting liner DUCHESS OF RICHMOND (20,022grt/总吨位), carrying British civilians being evacuated to Canada. REPULSE, FURIOUS, light cruiser EMERALD, and destroyers HUNTER and HYPERION departed Halifax and steamed ahead of the troop convoy to sweep for German raiders. HUNTER and HYPERION were detached at dusk on the 10th and rejoined at 0800/11th. Because of the severe cold, FURIOUS was unable to launch aircraft due to frozen hydraulic lines until the 11th, but then fog soon curtailed operations. Once out of the Halifax approaches, the local escort, HUNTER and HYPERION returned to Halifax, while at sea on the 14th, EMERALD was relieved by light cruiser NEWCASTLE.

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Convoy HXF.12 departed Halifax at 0900 escorted by Canadian destroyer SKEENA, which was detached on the 12th. Ocean escort was armed merchant cruiser ALAUNIA and French submarine ACHILLE. ALAUNIA detached on the 22nd and ACHILLE arrived at Brest on the 22nd, escorted into port by sloop COMMANDANT RIVIERE. Destroyer WALKER escorted the convoy in Home Waters from the 23rd and HXF.12 arrived at Liverpool on the 24th.

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Light cruiser GALATEA departed Malta on patrol and arrived back on the 19th.

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Submarine OLYMPUS departed Diego Suarez to check Prince Edward Island in the southern Indian Ocean for suspected German raiders, but made no sightings.

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French destroyer TEMPêTE passed Gibraltar east to west.

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Convoy SL.12 departed Freetown escorted by sloop ROCHESTER and arrived on the 26th.

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French heavy cruisers TOURVILLE and COLBERT, assisted by sloop D'IVERVILLE, departed Malta for contraband control duties off the west of Greece. The cruisers arrived at Beirut on the 12th.

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Convoy K.6 departed Bombay with troopships RAJULA (8478grt/总吨位), D'ARTAGNAN (15,105grt/总吨位), ROHNA (8602grt/总吨位), CAP TOURAINE (8009grt/总吨位), LANCASHIRE (9557grt/总吨位), TAIREA (7933grt/总吨位) and TALAMBA (8018grt/总吨位), escorted by Australian light cruiser HOBART and armed merchant cruisers MALOJA and RANCHI from the 10th to 15th. The convoy arrived at Suez on the 20th and Port Said on the 21st, and was escorted by Australian destroyers VAMPIRE and VOYAGER from the 21st to 24th. They were relieved on the 24th by Australian sister ships VENDETTA and WATERHEN from the 24th to 26th when the convoy reached Marseilles.