Friday, 5 December Destroyer WHEATLAND departed Scapa Flow at 0745 for Scrabster to embark six Army officers and twenty four other ranks and returned to Scapa Flow at 1300.

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Destroyer CHIDDINGFOLD join the Orkneys and Shetlands command at 1200 on completion of working up practices.

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Submarine P.37 departed Scapa Flow for patrol and operation KITBAG.

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Submarine SEALION sank Norwegian steamer ISLAND (638grt/总吨位) in 71-07N, 27-54E off northern Norway.

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Dutch submarine O.21 departed Gibraltar for the United Kingdom.

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Supply ship BRECONSHIRE with destroyers KINGSTON and KIMBERLEY departed Malta at 1700 for Alexandria. Light cruisers AJAX and NEPTUNE and destroyer LIVELY departed Malta at 2000 to support the operation.

Destroyers KINGSTON and KIMBERLEY took supply ship BRECONSHIRE on to Alexandria.

Light cruisers AJAX and NEPTUNE and destroyer LIVELY met destroyers JAGUAR and KANDAHAR, which departed Alexandria on the 6th, on the 7th. These ships all arrived at Malta on the 8th.

Supply ship BRECONSHIRE, light cruisers HOBART and GALATEA, antiaircraft ship CARLISLE, and destroyers GRIFFIN, HOTSPUR, KIMBERLEY, and KINGSTON arrived at Alexandria on the 8th.

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Submarine THORN was in a collision with cable ship BULLFINCH in Alexandria Harbour. The submarine was under repair at Port Said from 7 to 16 December.

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Greek destroyers PANTHER and NIKI departed Alexandria to patrol off Sollum. After the patrol, the destroyers returned to Mersa Matruh on the 6th. The destroyers arrived back at Alexandria on the 9th.

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Convoy TA.1 of steamers CHAKDINA and KIRKLAND departed Tobruk, escorted by destroyers FARNDALE and ERIDGE, anti-submarine whaler THORGRIM, and an anti-submarine trawler.

Three landing ship tankers A lighters departed Tobruk for Mersa Matruh.

Armed boarding vessel CHAKDINA (Lt Cdr . R. Hickey RNR) was sunk by German bombing in 31-11N, 24-30E in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Destroyer FARNDALE and anti-submarine whaler THORGRIM rescued about two hundred survivors. There were about three hundred British wounded and one hundred prisoners of war on the vessel when it sank.

T/Lt (E) T. Bell RNR, and seventeen ratings of the ship's crew were killed.

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Submarine TALISMAN unsuccessfully attacked a submarine in the Kithera Channel.

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U.81 attacked a tanker, escorted by a destroyer, near Tobruk. The submarine claimed hitting both ships.

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Dutch submarine O.21 departed Gibraltar for the UK, escorted by destroyer BRADFORD. The destroyer was later detached and refuelled at Ponta Delgada prior to joining monitors ROBERTS and EREBUS and corvette FRITILLARY, en route from the UK to Freetown.

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Corvette SPIRAEA departed Gibraltar to meet destroyer STANLEY, escorting steamer CLAN MCINNES, formerly in convoy SL.94, and escort them to Gibraltar, arriving on the 12th.

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Convoy BA.10 departed Bombay, escorted by battleship REVENGE. The convoy arrived at Aden on the 10th.

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Troopship RANGITATA departed Gibraltar for Freetown escorted by destroyers HURWORTH, VIDETTE, which was detached to refuel at Bathurst, and HIGHLANDER, which was detached at dusk on the 6th. Destroyer VIDETTE arrived back at Gibraltar on the 18th.

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Battlecruiser REPULSE and destroyers VAMPIRE and TENEDOS departed Singapore for Darwin. The battlecruiser was also escorted by destroyers JUPITER and ELECTRA at the start. The battlecruiser and the destroyers were recalled the next day.

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American aircraft carrier LEXINGTON, heavy cruisers ASTORIA, CHICAGO, and PORTLAND, and destroyers PORTER, FLUSSER, DRAYTON, LAMSON, and MAHAN departed Pearl Harbour to fly off Marine aircraft of VMSB 231 to Midway.

Heavy cruiser INDIANAPOLIS departed Pearl Harbour with this group and was detached for exercises off Johnson Island. The planes were not flown off and the force returned to Pearl Harbour.

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Norwegian steamer HALLDOR (1515grt/总吨位), which was en route from Bangkok to Hong Kong, was intercepted by Japanese destroyer URANAMI seventy five miles west of Saigon. The steamer was boarded and her wireless equipment was disabled. The Norwegian ship was then allowed to continue, but shortly after her arrival at Hong Kong, she was seized by Japanese forces.