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http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/07.htm

November 7th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM: Heavy air raids over London and the coast; Southampton and Liverpool also attacked. RAF claim four shot down and admits to losing four.
London: Anna Wolkoff, the daughter of a former Russian naval attache in London, has been jailed for ten years for offences under the Official Secrets Act and the Defence Regulations. Mr Justice Tucker said that she had tried to send a coded letter to Lord Haw-Haw, “a traitor who broadcasts from Germany for the purpose of weakening the war effort of this country.”

Scotland, Pentland Firth: Two Royal Navy patrol vessels are lost to bombs.

Submarine HMS Swordfish is lost to a mine a few miles south of St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight. There were no survivors. Previously, it had been believed that Swordfish was mined off Brest, until July 1983 when the wreckage was discovered in 150 feet of water, showing that it had been lost just a few hours after setting out from Portsmouth. (Alex Gordon)(108)

Minesweeper HMS Bangor commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

NORTH SEA: A planned attack by German torpedo boats off the coast of Scotland ends when T6 is mined on the East Coast barrage and goes down.

ÉIRE: Dublin: Despite Winston Churchill’s anger, Eire will remain neutral and continue to refuse to allow the use of its ports as British bases, the prime minister, Eamon de Valera, told the ‘Dail’ [parliament] today. He denied rumours that German submarines were being refuelled and re-provisioned in Eire.

“I say it is a lie,” he said. “And I say further that it is known to be a falsehood by the British government itself.” In a speech last week, Churchill spoke of the handicap under which Britain was suffering as a result of being denied naval and air facilities in Eire. He described it as a “grievous burden which should never have been placed on our shoulders”.

The use of Irish ports could extend the range of convoy escorts by several hundred miles, and the fact that Irish ships themselves are being protected is being stressed in a major British propaganda campaign in the United States.

Wanted was the former big RN base at Queenstown, which had been left behind in 1936. Churchill was correct in his assessment of the risk problem; having that old base would indeed have saved hundreds of miles steaming by protective armed escorts, and not having it thereby limited the extent of their protection, which in turn left convoys short of protection at distances quite predictable by U-boat skippers intent on sinking them. Interestingly, it was reportedly none other than the late Lord Mountbatten who, using his uniquely powerful position vis-a-vis both Admiralty and the Royal Family, persuaded British politicians not to push the matter, on the grounds that having given Eire independence inclusive of the base (which astonished the Irish leaders, who fully expected and were willing to have it retained at the time), taking it back during wartime it would only exacerbate future relations between the two nations postwar. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY:

U-553, U-554 launched.
U-551 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarines M-31 and M-32 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA: General LeClerc’s Free French forces land near Libreville.

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Saskatoon launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state collapsed during a windstorm.

Submarine USS Gar launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN:

Submarine FS Poncelet sunk off Gabon on 7 November 1940 by sloop HMS Milford.
Submarine HMS Swordfish believed sunk by mine after departing Portsmouth for Brest Patrol. (Dave Shirlaw)