Wednesday, 4 September

Light cruisers MANCHESTER, SOUTHAMPTON, and BIRMINGHAM departed Rosyth at 1300 with destroyer HOLDERNESS, were joined at sea by destroyers KELVIN and JUPITER, and proceeded to Immingham.

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Destroyer JAVELIN departed the Clyde for the Humber.

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Destroyer JAGUAR departed the Clyde for Rosyth.

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Rear Admiral Destroyers, Home Fleet transferred to destroyer depot ship GREENWICH at 0800.

Destroyer depot ship WOOLWICH, escorted by destroyers MAORI and DUNCAN departed Scapa Flow for Liverpool at 1700, and arrived safely at 1200/6th. DUNCAN and MAORI then proceeded to Lough Foyle to escort submarine depot ship TITANIA to Rosyth. They sailed from Lough Foyle at 1030/7th.

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Convoy OA.209 departed Methil escorted by sloop FOWEY and corvette CAMELLIA from 4 to 8 September.

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Convoy OB.209 departed Liverpool escorted by corvettes CLARKIA and HEARTSEASE, and was joined on the 5th by destroyer WINCHELSEA and on the 6th by destroyers AMBUSCADE and ARROW, plus anti-submarine trawlers ST KENAN and ST LOMAN. The ARROW detached later on the 6th, followed by AMBUSCADE, WINCHELSEA, CLARKIA and HEARTSEASE on the 8th. ST KENAN and ST LOMAN remained until the 9th.

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Convoy FN.272 departed Southend with destroyer WOOLSTON, sloop FLEETWOOD, and patrol sloop PUFFIN, and arrived in the Tyne on the 6th.

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Convoy MT.160 departed Methil, and arrived in the Tyne later that day.

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Convoy FS.272 departed the Tyne, escorted by destroyer VIVIEN and sloop LONDONDERRY. Sloop PUFFIN joined on the 5th, and the convoy arrived at Southend on the 6th.

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Submarine TUNA made contact a German submarine in 56-26N, 1-17E, but was unable to attack.

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U.46 sank steamer LUIMNEACH (1074grt/总吨位) in 47?50N, 09?12, picked up three survivors and made them prisoners of war, while the rest of the crew were later rescued by Allied ships.

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U.47 sank steamer TITAN (9035grt/总吨位) in 58?14N, 15?50 and reported damaging a steamer at the same time and location, also from convoy OA.207. Six crew were lost on TITAN, and the survivors rescued by Canadian destroyer ST LAURENT and corvette GODETIA.

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ATTACK ON CONVOY FS.271

German motor torpedo boats of the 1st Flotilla launched a highly successful attack on FS.271 northeast of Great Yarmouth in 52?50N, 02?09E.

S.21 sank steamers CORBROOK (1729grt/总吨位) and NEW LAMBTON (2709grt/总吨位). CORBROOK went down 30 miles east of Cromer and NEW LAMBTON in 52-50N, 2-07-30E (also 52-52N, 02.40E), but both crews were rescued.

S.18 sank steamer JOSEPH SWAN (1571grt/总吨位) and the Dutch NIEUWLAND (1075grt/总吨位). Both ships were lost between 56 and 55A Buoy, JOSEPH SWAN with only one survivor and NIEUWLAND with the loss of eight crew.

S.22 sank steamer FULHAM IV (1562grt/总吨位) two miles north of 55A Buoy, but here entire crew was rescued.

S.54 damaged steamer EWELL (1350grt/总吨位).

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Tug SAUCY (Temporary Lt J. Cordery RNR) was mined and sunk off Inchkeith in the Firth of Forth. Temporary S/Lt F. D. Phillips RNR, Temporary S/Lt D. L. Thomas RNR, Temporary S/Lt (E) . H. Anderson RNR, Temporary S/Lt (E) F. . Jones, and twenty three ratings were lost.

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Estonian steamer JAAK (1351grt/总吨位) was damaged by German bombing off Royal Pier, Southampton.

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US DESTROYERS FOR British BASES DEAL

The first US destroyers for transfer to the Royal Navy, destroyers AARON WARD (DD.132), HALE (DD.133), and ABEL P UPSHUR (DD.193) departed Boston for Halifax.

On 1 September, American destroyer depot ship DENEBOLA (AD.12) had departed Norfolk, Virginia, and arrived at Halifax on the 6th to act as a depot ship for the destroyers. She remained at Halifax in this role until returning to Norfolk on 3 November.

By 6 September, all eight destroyers of Destroyer Divisions 65 and 67 had arrived at Halifax.

The British crews for these destroyers arrived at Halifax on troopship DUCHESS OF RICHMOND (20,022grt/总吨位).

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Convoy HG.43 departed Gibraltar with 21 ships escorted by sloop WELLINGTON and as far as Lisbon, by destroyers WISHART and FORTUNE.

WISHART experienced defects and returned to Gibraltar, being replaced by destroyer VIDETTE which sailed from Gibraltar on the 5th with troopship ROYAL SCOTSMAN (3244grt/总吨位) to join the convoy.

WELLINGTON escorted the convoy from the 4th to 18th. It was joined in Home Waters by destroyer WARWICK with corvettes COREOPSIS and CLEMATIS from the 14th to 18th, and by destroyer WESTCOTT and sloop ROCHESTER on the 18th. The convoy arrived at Liverpool that same day.

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Destroyer VELOX departed Gibraltar escorting steamers BARON VERNON and FIDRA to within ten miles of Melilla, when they carried on to load iron ore. On the 8th, destroyer HOTSPUR escorted FIDRA back to Gibraltar.