http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/02.htm
December 2nd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Bristol suffers a heavy night raid by 121 German bombers.
London: CIGS telegrams C-in-C Med. to make landing craft and ships available for use in Operation Compass if requested.
Minesweeping trawlers HMS Balta and Copinsay launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Ophelia commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
SPAIN:
Madrid: In a significant act of defiance, the Spanish dictator, General Franco, today ignored pressure from Nazi Germany and signed a financial pact with Britain. At the same time Franco gave a categorical assurance to Britain and the US that in no circumstances will Spain join the war against Britain or allow Spain to be used for military operations. The pact with Britain will release Spanish funds in London which have been frozen since the start of the Spanish Civil War.
EGYPT:
Cairo: Wavell meets with General Platt from the Sudan and General Alan Cunningham from Kenya (brother of the naval C-in-C). They decide that an operation must be planned to recapture Kassala in East Africa. But this would need at least one infantry division to be supplied from Egypt and that in turn would depend upon the outcome of the forthcoming offensive.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-99 claims her third armed merchant cruiser when she torpedoes AMC Forfar and sinks her west of Ireland at 54 35N, 18 18W. Forfar was sailing independently to meet convoy SC 14. (Alex Gordon)(108)At the same time nearby convoy HX90 is attacked just before the Western Approaches escorts arrive. Eleven ships are lost to the U-boats.
The armed merchant cruiser HMS Montrose was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic in position 54.35N, 018.18W, by U-99, Kptlt. Kretschmer, Knight’s Cross, Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Knight’s Cross with Swords, CO. There were 185 casualties in this incident. Montrose was the former Canadian National Steamships cargo-liner SS Lady Somers (16,402 GRT). She was requisitioned into the Royal Navy as an armed merchant cruiser renamed HMS Forfar. She had been detached from convoy HX-90 was on route to join convoy OB-251 when she was hit by five torpedoes from U-99. Due to the intense convoy battle underway and the stormy weather rescue operations were delayed, leading to the high casualty toll. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Light cruiser USS Montpelier laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 459 December 2, 1940
British armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar, which has just left convoy HX-90, is sunk by U-99 with 5 torpedoes between 5.46 and 6.57 AM (172 crew killed, 21 survivors rescued later in the day by Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent, British destroyer HMS Viscount and British SS Dunsley). Between 4-7.30 AM 300 miles West of Ireland, U-47 U-52 U-94 U-99 and U-101 attack convoy HX-90 (which is still unescorted) with good visibility from the Northern Lights, sinking 5 ships (22,868 tons of shipping) and damaging 2 more (119 lives lost). Destroyer HMS Viscount rescues 79 survivors and Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent rescues 106. U-94 finds the convoy after the coastal escort vessels arrive and sinks 2 more ships after dark (5 killed, survivors rescued by British SS Empire Puma from the same convoy and corvette HMS Gentian).
In other U-boat actions, U-37 sinks Swedish SS Gwalia at 4.18 AM (16 killed, 4 survivors on a raft picked up after 11 days by a British destroyer) and British Jeanne M. at 4.46 AM (7 killed, 19 picked up by antisubmarine trawler HMT Erin) 230 miles north of Cape Roca, Portugal. West of Ireland, U-43 sinks British MV Pacific President at 9.01 AM (all 50 hands lost) and British tanker Victor Ross at 9.41 AM (all 44 hands lost) and U-99 sinks Norwegian SS Samnanger at 8.50 PM (all 30 hands lost).
Admiral of the Fleet, Earl of Cork and Orrery, arrives at Gibraltar aboard destroyer HMS Jersey to conduct a Board of Inquiry into Admiral Somerville’s handling of Battle of Spartivento. Somerville’s decision to disengage in the face of superior forces will be upheld and no disciplinary action taken.
Overnight, Luftwaffe bombs Bristol.