Wednesday, 9 October

Aircraft carrier FURIOUS departed Scapa Flow at 0800 with destroyers ESKIMO and MATABELE to strike at Bodo. Poor weather conditions forced the operation to be cancelled and the ships arrived back at Scapa Flow at 1630.

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Anti-aircraft cruiser CURACOA departed Scapa Flow at 1600 to cover convoys WN.21 S.and WN.21 F. On meeting convoy OA.227, the cruiser joined the OA convoy and escorted it to Pentland Firth. CURACOA then proceeded to Scapa Flow.

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Anti-aircraft ship ALYNBANK departed Scapa Flow at 0700 to escort convoy SL.48 A from Pentland Firth until dusk. She then returned to Scapa Flow.

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Convoy OB.226 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyer ANTELOPE, corvettes GERANIUM and GLOXINIA, anti-submarine trawler HUDDERSFIELD TOWN. The escort was detached on the 12th.

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Convoy FN.304 departed Southend, escorted by destroyers VALOROUS and WESTMINSTER. The convoy arrived at Methil on the 11th.

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Destroyer VIMY departed Londonderry at 1400 for Portsmouth for refitting.

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Destroyer VERSATILE departed Londonderry at 0900 for Rosyth on passage to the Tyne for refitting. Defects forced her to return to Londonderry.

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Midshipman D. A. C. Hadingham, in a Whitley of RAF 77 Squadron from Topcliffe, was killed returning from a raid over Germany when the plane flew into high ground west of Snape.

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Convoy HG.45 of forty nine ships departed Gibraltar escorted by local escort destroyers HOTSPUR, FIREDRAKE and WISHART. Troopship NEURALIA departed with the convoy with 1093 Gibraltar civilians. She was detached and proceeded unescorted to Kingston.

WISHART was detached on the 10th and HOTSPUR and FIREDRAKE escorted the convoy until 15 October. Escort vessel GLEANER escorted the convoy from 9 to 27 October.

On 17 October, armed merchant cruiser PRETORIA CASTLE from convoy SL.50 joined the convoy and remained with it until 27 October. On 20 October, sloop FLEETWOOD joined the convoy and escorted it until 27 October.

Destroyer ANTELOPE and corvette MALLOW from convoy OB.230 joined the convoy on the 21st and escorted it until 27 October. Destroyers HAVELOCK, HESPERUS and SKEENA escorted the convoy from 22 to 27 October, which arrived at Liverpool on the 27th.

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U.103 attacked convoy SC.6, sank Greek steamers ZANNES GOUNARIS (4407grt/总吨位) and DELPHIN (3816grt/总吨位) and badly damaged British steamer GRAIGWEN (3697grt/总吨位) in 58?11N, 13?57. GRAIGWEN was sunk late on the 10th by U.123. One crewman was lost on ZANNES GOUNARIS, the entire crew of DELPHIN was rescued, and seven crew were lost on the British steamer.

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Steamer ALDERNEY QUEEN (663grt/总吨位) was sunk by German bombing off Grassholm Island, North Wales, 51-38-30N, 5-25-30. The entire crew was rescued.

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Minesweeping trawler SEA KING (321grt/总吨位) was sunk by mining 28 miles 310° from Bull Sand Road, Grimsby Roads. Acting Temporary Skipper T. Sleeth RNR, Temporary Skipper L. Rushby RNR, twelve ratings were lost.

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During the night of 9/10 October, Italian destroyers VIVALDI, DA NOLI and TARIGO laid mines to the south of Malta. Destroyer IMPERIAL was soon mined on this minefield.

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Submarine REGENT sank Italian steamer ANTONIETTA COSTA (6880grt/总吨位) in 41-17N, 19-25E off Durazzo. On 11 October, REGENT unsuccessfully attacked a tanker in the Southern Adriatic.

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Light cruiser DRAGON arrived at Duala.

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Convoy SLS 51 departed Freetown on the 9th. Sloop ROCHESTER escorted the convoy on 30 and 31 October, when it arrived at Liverpool.