Germans raid Scapa Flow
Tuesday, October 17, 1939 www.onwar.com
In Britain... German Ju88 bombers strike the British naval base at Scapa Flow. The training battleship Iron Duke (which was the flagship of Admiral Jellico — 1914 to 1917 — during World War I) is damaged and has to be beached.
In the North Sea... German destroyers lay mines by night off the Humber estuary.
In Paris... The French report sharp infantry engagements on the front near Saarbrucken.
In Berlin... The Germans report “absolute quiet” on the Rhine Front. A lone German soldier was accidentally killed by falling shrapnel from a German anti-aircraft gun.
In Moscow... Turkish representatives break off talks for a defense treaty with the Soviet Union. While the prolonged Turkish-Soviet negotiations end without agreement there are professions of mutual friendliness. Soviet representatives paid tribute to Turkish Foreign Minister Sarajoglu before his departure. Last minute Soviet proposals conflicted with Turkish engagements to Britain and France and these were rejected by Sarajoglu.
In Paris... The French report sharp infantry engagements on the front near Saarbrucken.
Read these and other stories in tomorrow's edition of The New York Times. By then the "sharp infantry engagements" will have expanded to an attack by 100,000 Germans.
CONCLUSIONS of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street, S.W.1, on Tuesday, October 17, 1939, at 11:30 a.m.
The First Lord of the Admiralty said that he had news of an air raid in progress at Scapa Flow, and warnings had been given at Rosyth and Humber, though these were probably on account of reconnaissance aircraft.
The Iron Duke, which had been demilitarized under the Naval Treaty, and was now in use as a depot ship in Scapa, had been hit. She was not armoured, and after the hit, had developed a list but had been beached. There were no casualties, but one of the enemy aircraft had been shot down.
There is no mention of the Repulse anywhere in the meeting notes so I she's probably all right.