Saturday, 10 February

Heavy cruiser SUFFOLK was in a collision with steamer MASIRAH (6578grt/总吨位) off Little Cumbrae and was badly damaged abreast B-turret with three men killed, five missing and eight injured, three of them seriously. The steamer was seriously damaged and anchored in Rothesay Bay. SUFFOLK arrived at Govan and began repairs on the 12th which were not completed until 10 April.

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Destroyer HAVELOCK (Captain E B K Stevens DSC) was completed, and after working up at Portland, joined the 9th Destroyer Flotilla.

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Armed merchant cruisers WOLFE and FORFAR departed the Clyde for Northern Patrol, and armed merchant cruiser LETITIA arrived back.

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Submarines SEAL and TRIAD departed Rosyth on a special mission to investigate the courses of German iron ore ships off the Norwegian coast.

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Polish submarine WILK departed Rosyth on patrol.

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Convoy SA.29 of two steamers departed Southampton, escorted by sloops FOXGLOVE and ROSEMARY, and arrived at Brest on the 12th.

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Convoy FN.91 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers WESTMINSTER, JAVELIN and sloop LONDONDERRY, and arrived in the Tyne on the 11th.

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Convoy FS.92 departed the Tyne, escorted by destroyers WHITLEY, JUPITER and sloop EGRET. WHITLEY and EGRET attacked a submarine contact NNW of St Abbs Head, in 56-01. 5N, 2-14. 5, and the convoy arrived at Southend on the 12th.

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Convoy MT.7 departed Methil, and arrived in the Tyne the next day. Convoy MT.8 was cancelled.

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Destroyer WINDSOR made an attack on a submarine contact south of the Scilly Isles in 49?16N, 6?19.

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Armed boarding vessel NORTHERN ISLES (655grt/总吨位) attacked U.53 north of North Rona in 59-58N, 5-43.

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Destroyers COSSACK, SIKH and MOHAWK departed Scapa Flow to escort convoy HN.10B from the Norwegian coast.

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Destroyer GURKHA was involved in the escort of tanker ATHELKNIGHT (8940grt/总吨位).

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Destroyers IVANHOE and GRIFFIN arrived at Aberdeen. GRIFFIN departed again that day to relieve destroyer BOREAS on patrol off the northeast coast, and BOREAS reached Aberdeen on the 11th.

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Destroyer INGLEFIELD departed the Clyde for Rosyth.

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Steamer HOUSATONIC (5559grt/总吨位), escorted by destroyers DIANA and DARING, departed Muckle Flugga for Rosyth. Tanker BRITISH GOVERNOR (6840grt/总吨位) joined them on passage and all four ships reached Rosyth on the 11th.

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Minelayer PRINCESS VICTORIA with destroyers ESK and EXPRESS departed Rosyth to lay 60 mines in minefield LD 2 during the night of the 10th/11th.

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Motor torpedo boats MTB.22, MTB.24, MTB.25 departed the Nore for Blyth to act under the command of Commander in Chief, Rosyth.

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Auxiliary minesweeper SALVO swept the first magnetic mine with an LL sweep off Sunk Light Vessel.

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Convoy OA.89 departed Southend escorted by sloop FOWEY. Destroyer WITCH joined the escort on the 11th, both warships detached on the 12th, and the convoy dispersed on the 13th.

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Blockship BRANKSEA (214grt/总吨位) sank off Girdle Ness at 0500 for no apparent reason, and the mate of the tug was lost attempting to free the tow.

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U.37 sank Norwegian steamer SILJA (1259grt/总吨位) in 51?21N, 11?32 with all hands.

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U.48 sank Dutch steamer BURGERDIJK (6853grt/总吨位) in 49?45N, 06?30, but her entire crew was rescued by Dutch steamer EDAM (8871grt/总吨位).

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Trawler THERESA BOYLE (224grt/总吨位) was bombed and sunk by He111's of German KG26 (X Air Corps) 115 miles east by north of Aberdeen, and her survivors rescued by minesweeping trawlers BRABANT (240grt/总吨位) and ALMANDINE (295grt/总吨位) after they were located by British aircraft.

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Dutch steamer GALLIA (9974grt/总吨位) was damaged on a mine off the Downs.

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Destroyers HASTY and HERO departed Gibraltar for England, screened heavy cruiser EXETER, after joining her on the 13th in 43-00N, 17-40, and searched for German blockade runners before arriving at Plymouth and Portsmouth, respectively, on the 15th. Both destroyers joined the Home Fleet in mid-March after refitting.

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U.26, U.37, U.48 were deployed west of the English Channel to intercept warships ARK ROYAL, RENOWN and EXETER returning to England from the South Atlantic. This deployment continued until the 14th, without any contact being made.

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Destroyer DECOY departed Gibraltar for Freetown.

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Convoy SL.20 departed Freetown on the 10th escorted by armed merchant cruiser ESPERANCE BAY until the 25th, and SLF.20 departed Freetown on the 14th, escorted by armed merchant cruiser CHESHIRE. The two convoys merged on the 25th and were joined by destroyers VANQUISHER, VANSITTART, VERSATILE and VETERAN until the 28th, when they all arrived in the UK.