01 SEPTEMBER 1939
UBOATS
Arrivals
Kiel: U-32, u-35
Departures
Wilhelmshaven: U-20
At Sea 1 September 1939
OPERATIONS
Baltic
The first shots of the war were fired by German battleship SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN at the Polish Gdansk (Danzig) fortifications of Westerplatte. She had arrived six days earlier when Hitler seized the Polish port of Gdansk for Germany, renaming it Danzig.
Near sister SCHLESIEN
German naval forces–
For the invasion of Poland were under the Command of Naval Group Command East (Adm Conrad Albrecht):
Commander Reconnaissance Force (Vice Adm Hermann Densch) had under his command CLs KÖLN, LEIPZIG, NÜRNBERG.
Officer Commanding Torpedo Boats (Konter Adm Gunther Lutjens) commanded DDs BERND VON ARNIM, BRUNO HEINEMANN, ERICH STEINBRINCK, FRIEDRICH ECKHOLDT, FRIEDRICH IHN, GEORG THIELE, LEBERECHT MAAS, RICHARD BEITZEN, WOLFGANG ZENKER and S-Boat flotilla 1 with S.10, S.11, S.12, S.13, S.18, S.19 and depot ship TSINGTAU.
BRUNO HEINEMANN had a water feed pump break down and was forced to withdraw for repairs at Wilhelmshaven.
Officer Commanding MSWs (KptzS Friedrich Ruge in old torpedo boat T.196) commanded escort ships F.7, F.8, F.9, F.10, MSWFlot 1 with MSWs M.1, M.3, M.4, M.5, M.7, M.111, M.132, the Experimental Barrage Command with old MSWs ARKONA, NAUTILUS, OTTO BRAUN, PELIKAN, SUNDEWALL and MSW Flot 3 with coastal MSWs R.33, R.34, R.35, R.36, R.38, R.39, R.40.
Uboats committed to the attack included U.5, U.6, U.7, U.14, U.18, U.22, U.31, U.32, U.35, U.57.
Under the control of U-boats East (FKpt Oskar Schomburg). U.5, U.6, and U.7 patrolled the Kattegat near Laeso. U.22 patrolled inside the Irben Strait.
U.31, U.32, U.35 were off the Gulf of Danzig for minelaying and U.14 and U.18 on patrol off the Gulf of Danzig.
U.57 patrolled off Libau.
Polish naval operations –
The Polish Fleet (prefix ORP) sortied from Gdynia, but not before the loss of
TB MAZUR (ORP 340 grt)sunk in German air attacks. DD WICHER, ML GRYF, and MSWs CZAJKA, CZAPLA, JASKOLKA, MEWA, RYBITWA, ZURAW were able to leave port to conduct the mining of Gdansk Bay, code named Exercise RURKA.
In Puck Bay, near Gdynia, the Polish force was attacked by LW Ju-87s, and ML GRYF and MSW MEWA seriously damaged. GRYF was forced to jettison her mines to prevent the explosion of those still on deck and was unable to begin Exercise RURKA. MEWA was towed to Hela by RYBITWA.
ORP Submarines ORZEL and WILK departed Gdynia for patrol in the Gulf of Gdansk and RYS, SEP, ZBIK also sailed from Gdynia for patrol in Puck Bay off Hela to attack German surface ships.
WILK attacked Kriegsmarine (prefix DKM) DD ERICH STEINBRINCK unsuccessfully and was then damaged by DCes dropped by her and FRIEDRICH IHN, but was able to continue on patrol.
Northern Waters
BB RAMILLIESdeparted Scapa Flow for escort duties from Devonport.
Channel
CV COURAGEOUS with DD STURDY, after departing Portsmouth on 31 August, arrived at Portland at 1700. DDs ARROW arrived there at 1550, ACASTA, which had departed Portland at 0640 that morning, and ANTHONY arrived at 1615, and ACHATES at 1745.
CVL HERMES, sailing from Plymouth, arrived at Portland at 2015, and DD ACHERON on the 2nd. Here they joined DD ANTELOPE which was already at Portland.
Central Atlantic
DDs DOUGLAS and WISHART departed Gibraltar for patrol. French DD BASQUE also left Gibraltar.
CA EXETER arrived at Freetown from Devonport and later the same day, departed for Cape Verde Island.
CA CUMBERLAND, which had departed Plymouth on 31 August after EXETER, was also en route for Freetown.
Mediterranean -
DD ICARUS was damaged in collision with Greek steamer MICHALIS off Alexandria, while they were alongside each other at sea. ICARUS's hull was stove in, and she and the Greek steamer were escorted to Alexandria by DD INTREPID. Following temporary repairs, ICARUS proceeded on the 10th for repairs at Malta completing on 8 October.
2 SEPTEMBER 1939
UBOATS
Arrivals
Memel U-57
Wilhelmshaven: U-31
Departures
Wilhelmshaven : U-13, U-16, U-24
At Sea 2 September 1939
U-5, U-6, U-7, U-9, U-12, U-13, U-14, U-15, U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20, U-21, U-22, U-23, U-24,U-26, U-27 (+), U-28, U-29, U-30, U-33, U-34, U-37, U-38, U-39 , U-40, U-41, U-45, U-46, U-47, U-48, U-52, U-53, U-56, U-58, U-59.
38 boats at sea
KTB-BDU (Kriegstagebücher - War Diary)
Radio intelligence reports show that there is a rendezvous for inward-bound steamers in the Bristol Channel. This seems to point to there being no protection for merchant shipping as yet further out to sea. It is not possible to bring the boats up yet, as on the orders of Naval War Staff, they may not leave their waiting positions.
Supreme Command of the Navy abandoned the idea of using the recovery vessels at present with the U-boat school as S/M chasers under Group Baltic, after I had made representations. The vessels are urgently needed in Neustadt for training.
OPERATIONS
Baltic
On the 2nd, U.22 and U.57 were withdrawn to provide relief for the other patrols. Both boats proceeded to Memel.
For a few days DKM retained subs in the Polish operations area. There was concern that remaining Polish forces in the Baltic might run amok in the vital Baltic sea trade routes
For a few days DKM retained subs in the Polish operations area. There was concerns that remaining Polish forces in the Baltic might run amok in the vital Baltic sea trade routes
U.31, U.32, and U.35 were in the Baltic near Hela to mine the approaches to the Gulf of Danzig. However, the escape of the Polish destroyers made (Operation "Peking" ) rendered these operations unnecessary and they were transferred from the Baltic to the Atlantic, first arriving at Wilhelmshaven. From there:
U.32 set out on patrol on the 5th,
U.31 and U.35 on the 9th,
U.31 and U.35 were ordered to patrol areas west and south of England, respectively, and U.32 to lay mines off the Bristol Channel on the 17th.
ML GYDNIA (ORP 538 grt) was attacked and sunk by stukas from IV / LG.1 in the Gulf of Gdansk . At approximately around 1130 hrs the ship was anchored in the Bay of Puck approx. 2-3 nautical miles from Jastarnia. With approximately 100 people on board were killed. 35-40, including the commander, who died in hospital The precise numbers of casualties is not known because of the lossof ship documentation regarding the number of persons aboard..
ML GDANSK (ORP 538 grt) was also sunk at the same time.
ORP SS SEP unsuccessfully attacked German DD FRIEDRICH IHN at 1238 with one torpedo, north of Heisternest. SEP was damaged in the counterattack, but able to continue on patrol.
DKM CO Recon Fces with CLs KÖLN, LEIPZIG, NÜRNBERG in the Baltic was ordered to the North Sea, as the German Admiralty began to shift forces to face the Allied naval threat. Allied naval Power however, was not going to be able to affect the outcome in Poland.
Channel
BC RENOWN escort DD SARDONYX dep Portsmouth for Scapa arriving on the 4th.
CV COURAGEOUS escort DD STURDY dep Portland before dawn, and arrived at Plymouth later that day.
DD ENCOUNTER dep Portland and arrived at Plymouth later the same day .
Fr Force de Raid, Atlantic
- the Brest-based Force of BCs DUNKERQUE, STRASBOURG, CLs GEORGES LEYGUES, GLOIRE, MONTCALM and Contre Torpilleur DDs L'AUDACIEUX, LE FANTASQUE, LE MALIN, LE TERRIBLE, LE TRIOMPHANT, L'INDOMPTABLE, MOGADOR, VOLTA was ordered to Casablanca at high speed to protect the North African ports from attack from the sea. DesDiv 2 (DDs FOUGUEUX, FRONDEUR, L'ADROIT) and Desdiv 5 (DDs BRESTOIS, BOULONNNAIS, FOUDROYANT) cleared Brest on the 2nd as local escort and to carry out an ASW sweeps in the local approaches. The local escort returned to Brest on the 3rd.
ML LA TOUR D'AUVERGNE (former PLUTON), also at Brest, sailed with the Force de Raid to lay a defensive minefield off the Moroccan coast. She was detached on the 4th and arrived, unescorted, at Casablanca on the 5th, where she remained until her loss on the 13th.
French movements to an extent were driven by a fear of LW attacks on their fleet bases. When intelligence revealed the threat did not exist, the operations were cancelled and the forces arrived back at Brest on the 6th. They received an additional escort from the DesDiv 4 with DDs BOURRASQUE, ORAGE, OURAGAN, which dep Brest on the 5th.
Med/Biscay
Fr Bat Sqn 2 with BBs PROVENCE, BRETAGNE, LORRAINE with nine DDs of DesFlot 1 dep Toulon 31 August, arrived at Oran on the 2nd. The Squadron carried on and arrived at Gibraltar on the 3rd. The French in the Med were concerned mostly with a possible Italian pre-emptive attack
The three French dreadnoughts in the Med were of the Bretagne Class. Un-modernized, they were vulnerable to air attack and outclassed by the Italian modernized BBs they faced
The French 3rd Squadron arrived back at Toulon on the 2nd after covering convoy R.3.
Later that day, CAs, ALGÉRIE, COLBERT, DUPLEIX, FOCH, TOURVILLE with DesDiv 5 with Contre Torpilleur DDs CHEVALIER PAUL, TARTU, VAUQUELIN, DesFlot 7 with Contre torpilleur DDs GERFAUT and VAUTOUR, DesDiv 9 with Contre Torpilleur DDs CASSARD, KERSAINT,MAILLÉ BRÉZÉ dep Toulon and arrived at Oran on the 3rd.
CL ARETHUSA and the DesFlot 3 (less IMOGEN and ICARUS) dep Alexandria to patrol between Cape Matapan and Crete.
The DD diverted to Malta on the 4th, where they joined IMOGEN which earlier had been sent to Marseilles with dispatches, reaching Malta on the 3rd. All the DDs then carried on to Gib, arriving on the 5th to carry out ASW duties in the Atlantic.
Central Atlantic
CL DURBAN dep Gibraltar for Freetown where she arrived on the 8th with CVS ALBATROSS.
CVS Albatross was designed and built in Australia for the RAN but was sold back to the RN because of budget issues during the depression
AB.1 of British tkrs BRITISH ARDOUR , BRITISH LOYALTY , BRITISH PRINCESS , BRITISH MOTORIST , BRITISH PROGRESS and steamers CITY OF HEREFORD , CITY OF SHANGHAI ROWANBANK dep Gibraltar for Capetown. BRITISH FAITH had broken down just after weighing anchor and did not proceed with the convoy. CL DAUNTLESS and DESPATCH (Cru Sqn 9) dep Gib and proceeded with the convoy. DesFlot 13 DDs DOUGLAS, WATCHMAN, WISHART, WRESTLER joined the convoy at 2200/2nd and carried out ASW, before leaving the convoy on the morning of the 3rd. CL DAUNTLESS was detached on the 11th and arrived at Freetown on the 13th operating independently. On the 13th DESPATCH turned the convoy over to DURBAN which had departed Freetown on the 12th.
DESPATCH reached Freetown on the 14th. DURBAN reached Capetown on the 29th.
Sth Atlantic
RNZN CL ACHILLES en route to the West Indies from New Zealand received orders to patrol off the west coast of South America.
Red Sea/Indian Ocean
DDs DECOY, DEFENDER, DELIGHT, DUCHESS dep Hong Kong on 28 August, left Singapore on the 2nd en route to join the Med Flt.