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General Review.
NAVAL SITUATION.
Naval forces have been co-operating with the Army off the Libyan coast and ́ have destroyed two enemy supply ships.
An Italian cruiser has probably been sunk by one of our submarines in the Central Mediterranean.
H.M.S. Dunedin and H.M.A.S. Sydney are presumed sunk by enemy action. A merchant raider has been destroyed in the South Atlantic.
Our shipping losses have been exceptionally light.
Home Waters.
2. On the 23rd the fifteenth Canadian troop convoy arrived in Home Waters.
During an attack by E-boats on a coastal convoy off Cromer on the night of 23rd/24th, one E-boat was sunk, one was probably sunk and another was damaged by the escorting destroyers.
Northern Waters.
On 12th November, the Russian submarine K.21, in the vicinity of Hammerfest (westward of North Cape), torpedoed two merchant vessels of 4,000/5,000 tons, one of which was sunk.
Early on the 22nd, in an attack on a westbound convoy off Vardo (Varanger Fjord), H.M. Submarine Seawolf sank a 3,000-ton tanker, and on the 24th, in the same vicinity, torpedoed another merchant ship.
On the 24th, H.M.S. Kenya, with two British and two Russian destroyers, bombarded the enemy fort and batteries at Vardo.
Mediterranean.
4. Light forces have operated off the Libyan coast in support of our military operations, and cruisers and destroyers have been disposed to intercept reinforce- ments by sea.
The S.S. Glenroy (Special Service vessel, 9,809 tons), on passage to Tobruk, was hit by a torpedo during an attack by two torpedo-bombers, and was subequently beached at Mersa Matruh. One certainly and possibly both attacking aircraft were shot down.
H.M. Australian Sloop Paramatta was torpedoed to the north-eastward of Tobruk. Survivors have been sent to Alexandria, but no details are available.
On the 10th November, the Greek submarine Glaucos torpedoed and probably sank a merchant ship of 3,000 tons off Heraklion (Crete). On the 21st the Polish submarine Sokul, of Navarino Bay, obtained two hits on a southbound convoy of three ships escorted by a destroyer. On the same day H.M. Submarine Utmost, in the vicinity of the Strait of Messina, attacked a force of three cruisers and three destroyers. One cruiser was hit and probably sank. In a further attack on this force by aircraft another cruiser was hit by torpedo (see Air Section). Two schooners were sunk by H.M. Submarine 0.21 off the north-western coast of Italy.
In the afternoon of the 24th, following a report by aircraft, H.M. Ships Aurora and Penelope, with two destroyers, sank two southbound merchant ships of 5,000 tons, escorted by two destroyers, to the south-west of Crete. The escorting destroyers escaped.
It is estimated that 14,000 tons of enemy shipping has been sunk or damaged in the Mediterranean by our aircraft; details are given in the Air Section.
During the week approximately 22,000 tons of French shipping westbound and 15,000 tons eastbound have passed the Straits of Gibraltar under escort.
South Atlantic.
5. On the 22nd H.M.S. Devonshire sank an enemy vessel, thought to be the German Merchant Raider Goldenfels (7,800 tons), 800 miles S.S.W. of Freetown. No survivors were picked up owing to danger from attack by U-boat.
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