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Approaches southward of Rockall, was possibly successful, but there was no visible result in the case of the remainder.

Enemy Intelligence.

German.

7. The battleship Bismarck was reported at Gdynia on the 6th February. Previous mention has been made in this report of the sighting of the mast and top of a warship, possibly of a Hipper Ĉlass, in the North Atlantic on the 8th, and probably a Hipper Class cruiser attacked a convoy westward of Cape St. Vincent on the 12th. In addition, a report was made by aircraft on the 9th of a heavy ship described as a Hipper Class cruiser escorted by three destroyers south of the Lister Light steering into the Kattegat.

There has been considerable destroyer activity off the Norwegian Coast during the week.

Italian.

8. The battleship Giulio Cesare was not at Genoa at the time of the bombardment on the 9th, and she has not yet been located.

Submarines.

The position has been obscure owing to the small scale of activity, but it is estimated that five or six German submarines and two Italian have operated in the North-West Approaches and one German in the Azores area.

Ice Conditions.

Baltic Sea.

9. Stockholm is being kept open with difficulty. German ports, with the exception of Memel and Danzig, are closed. Fehmarn and Cadet Channels are probably impracticable, and the Kiel Canal is closed, so that the shipping now in Kiel Bay is inoperative. If present mild weather in this area continues, the Canal may re-open in a fortnight.

Approaches to Baltic Sea.

Probably almost continuous ice within 20 miles of the North Coast of Denmark and much drift ice further out in the Skagerrak, particularly at the Eastern end. The Kattegat is navigable near the Swedish coast. Shipping can reach the Northern end of the Sound, but the Southern end is closed. It is improbable that any shipping can get to the Baltic except strongly-built ships keeping close behind an icebreaker.

North Sea.

Off Germany and the West coast of Denmark ice is present up to the 10-fathom line and drift ice or floes up to the 15-fathom line. The ice situation in the German rivers is so serious now that it must be difficult even to keep the Elbe open, if indeed it is not already closed; at a similar period last year the Elbe was closed above Cuxhaven, and cruisers and heavy ships of the German Navy were observed to be at anchor off Heligoland. Emden is icebound.

No ice on the West coast of Norway. On the South coast a fair amount of ice within three miles of the coast and in the longer fjords.

Enemy Attack on Seaborne Trade.

10. During the period the 6th to 12th February, 17 ships, a total of 50,944 tons, have been reported sunk and of these 12 ships (37,540 tons) were British.

Seven ships (26,530 tons) were sunk by U-Boat and nine (23,913 tons) by aircraft. One small vessel was sunk off the East Coast by enemy E-Boat. There were no losses from mines.

Thirteen ships are reported damaged, including nine British; of the total, eight were damaged by air attack and five by mine.

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