Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
NAVAL EVENTS- Sunday, 29 October
Destroyers JERVIS, JANUS, JUNO, JERSEY, JUPITER, JACKAL departed the Humber on operation AG. They swept off the Dutch coast, but made no contact with enemy shipping, although JERSEY was near missed by German bombing. The ships arrived back in the Humber on the 30th.
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Light cruiser SHEFFIELD arrived at Rosyth for refit, and departed on 9 November.
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Light cruisers CARDIFF and CALEDON were on Northern Patrol duties between the Orkneys and the Faroes, light cruisers DRAGON, DIOMEDE, COLOMBO between the Faroes and Iceland, and light cruiser SOUTHAMPTON and armed merchant cruisers CHITRAL and AURANIA in the Denmark Strait.
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Anti-aircraft cruiser CALCUTTA departed Grimsby on escort duties and arrived back later the same day.
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The 22nd Destroyer Flotilla was formed at Harwich for East Coast Defence with destroyers EXMOUTH, KEITH and the Polish BURZA, GROM and BLYSKAWICA. On the 31st, destroyers ILEX, ISIS, IMPERIAL joined after completing repairs. The Flotilla was briefly composed of EXMOUTH as leader, ILEX, ISIS, IMPERIAL in the 43rd Division and KEITH and the three Polish ships in the 44th Division.
ILEX and ISIS were at Harwich at the end of the month and IMPERIAL at Plymouth preparing to depart. ILEX and ISIS departed Harwich on 2 November, arrived at Plymouth on the 3rd and departed the same day for Gibraltar to escort battleship WARSPITE. After this duty, they arrived at Scapa Flow on the 14th. Meanwhile IMPERIAL departed for Harwich on 1 November, but was ordered to Scapa Flow for duty with the Home Fleet, arriving on the 4th.
Captain R S Benson (D.12) in EXMOUTH was named Captain of the 22nd Flotilla on 2 November and continued in this capacity until the 11th, when he and EXMOUTH returned to Devonport.
Destroyer BOADICEA joined the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla on 5 November.
The three I’s of the 22th Destroyer Flotilla and all the destroyers, except BOADICEA, of the 23th Destroyer Flotilla were released on 5 November to return to their respective commands. The B’s returned to the 19th Destroyer Flotilla.
On 11 November, Captain G E Creasy in destroyer GRIFFIN was named D.22. On the same day, the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla was composed of GRIFFIN (D.22), GREYHOUND, GIPSY, GLOWWORM, KEITH, BOADICEA and Polish GROM, BURZA, BLYSKAWICA.
On the 22nd, GRAFTON and GALLANT replaced KEITH and BOADICEA in the 22nd Destroyer Flotilla.
On the 27th, D.22 transferred to submarine depot ship CYCLOPS, on 1 December, to BOADICEA, which had returned to the Flotilla, and on the 5th, to destroyer GRENVILLE, which completed repairs of her collision damage on the 7th.
Also, at Harwich, the 23rd Destroyer Flotilla was formed with CODRINGTON (Captain Simson, D.19) as leader, BOADICEA, ANTHONY, VANSITTART, VENOMOUS as the 45th Division, and BASILISK, BLANCHE, BEAGLE, BRAZEN as 46th Division.
In addition, destroyers BOREAS, which was repairing at Portsmouth until 13 November, and BRILLIANT were assigned to the 19th Destroyer Flotilla at Harwich.
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Polish destroyer BLYSKAWICA attacked a submarine contact.
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Convoy OA.27 of thirteen ships departed Southend escorted by destroyers WANDERER and WAKEFUL from the 29th to 31st.
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Convoy OB.28 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyers VIMY and MACKAY to 1 November.
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U.34 sank steamer MALABAR (7976grt, Commodore Rear Admiral G W Taylor (Rtd) aboard) from convoy HX.5A, 50 miles NW of the Scillies; five crew were lost. Destroyer GRAFTON rescued the survivors. U.34 attempted to sink another merchant ship of the convoy without success.
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American steamer CRANFORD (6096grt) and Italian steamer MANZONI (3955grt) collided off Deal with light damage to CRANFORD and extensive damages to MANZONI .
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Battleship WARSPITE departed Alexandria escorted by destroyers DAINTY and DIANA, and arrived at Malta on the 31st. After a brief docking, she left on 4 November with the same escort , which was relieved by destroyers ISIS and ILEX east of Gibraltar on the 6th and WARSPITE arrived at Gibraltar later that day.
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Convoy HG.5 of 40 ships departed Gibraltar escorted by French destroyers FOUGUEUX and L’ADROIT, from 29 October until their arrival at Brest on 6 November, and British destroyers DOUGLAS and VORTIGERN. The convoy arrived at various English ports on the 6th.
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Light cruiser DESPATCH departed Kingston.
Surprised no one else followed up on the Erebus. Looks like Churchill was successful in keeping it under British control, but spent much of the war in the Med.