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General Review.
NAVAL SITUATION.
1. Naval forces have sunk a tanker and a supply ship bound for Libya. A merchant raider or supply ship has been destroyed in the South Atlantic. U-Boats are concentrated in the Gibraltar area, where one has been sunk. Our shipping losses, though somewhat heavier than of late, have been moderate.
E-Boats have again been active off the East Coast.
Home Waters.
2. On three nights during the week Motor Torpedo Boats and Motor Gunboats have attacked E-boats and armed escorts of enemy merchant ships in the Straits of Dover, with inconclusive results. H.M. Destroyer Mendip and one of H.M. Drifters, escorting a coastal convoy, each shot down an enemy aircraft off the Humber on the 1st December. On the same day H.M. Minesweeper Ross was damaged by aircraft off Aberdeen.
It is estimated than 8,500 tons of enemy shipping have been sunk and 28,000 tons damaged by our aircraft. Details are given in the Air Situation.
Mediterranean.
3. Light forces continue to operate off the Libyan coast in support of our military operations, and cruisers, destroyers and submarines have been disposed to intercept reinforcements by sea.
On the 1st December H.M. Ships Aurora and Penelope, with two destroyers, sank the Italian Destroyer Alvise Da Mosto (1,628 tons, six 4.7-inch guns), a 10,000 ton laden tanker, and a supply ship, believed to be carrying stores and ammunition to Libya. The tanker had previously been seriously damaged by our aircraft. In addition, 11,000 tons of enemy shipping has been sunk or damaged by our aircraft; details are given in the Air Situation. H.M. Destroyer Jackal was torpedoed by enemy aircraft to the eastward of Tobruk, but returned to Alexandria under her own steam. The Polish Submarine Sokol claimed two hits on an enemy destroyer lying at anchor in Navarino (south-west Greece), and on the 21st November probably sank one ship in an escorted convoy to the south- westward. H.M. Submarine P.31 sighted a force of cruisers and destroyers south of Taranto and claimed one hit on a cruiser.
During the week approximately 35,000 tons of French shipping eastbound and 6,500 tons westbound have passed through the Straits of Gibraltar under
escort.
South Atlantic.
4. On the 1st December H.M.S. Dorsetshire, about 650 miles north-east of Tristan da Cunha, intercepted a supply ship or raider resembling the s.s. Elands- fontein (10,800 tons), which was scuttled after a warning shot had been fired. Owing to the suspected presence of U-boats no survivors were picked up.
An American merchant ship has picked up seventy-two survivors, five of whom have since died, from H.M.S. Dunedin, which was torpedoed and sunk on the 24th November.
Australia.
5. Extensive sea and air searches have failed to locate any survivors of H.M.A.S. Sydney. It has been ascertained from interrogation of survivors of the raider, which is now known to have been the Steiermark (9,400 tons, armed with six 5 9-inch guns, and above- and under-water torpedo tubes) that the action. took place on the 19th November, 175 miles south-west of Carnarvon (West Australia). Both ships were heavily on fire and the raider subsequently blew up.
Anti-Submarine Operations.
6. The Dutch Submarine 0.21 torpedoed a German U-boat about 110 miles east of Gibraltar and picked up twelve survivors. H.M. Corvette Totland made a promising attack on a U-boat, which had previously sunk a ship in convoy to the north-east of the Azores, and one of our aircraft claimed to have damaged a U-boat in the Western Approaches. A number of other attacks have been carried out by surface vessels and aircraft in the Western Approaches and Gibraltar area, but in no instance was there any definite evidence of destruction.
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