NAVAL EVENTS-Sunday, 10 September
Northern Patrol - light cruiser EMERALD departed Scapa Flow for Northern Patrol and arrived back on the 17th.
Northern waters - destroyer FEARLESS at sea with battlecruiser HOOD was detached from the screen to investigate a merchant ship which proved to be Swedish.
British west coast – patrol sloop PUFFIN attacked a submarine contact off Barmouth in Cardigan Bay.
British east coast - convoy FS.3 departed Methil and arrived at Southend on the 12th.
steamer GOODWOOD (2796grt) was sunk by a mine, one mile southeast of Flamborough Head, laid by U.15 on the 6th. One member of the crew was lost.
steamer MAGDAPUR (8641grt) sailing in ballast to Southampton to embark BEF equipment for France was sunk on the 10th off Orfordness by a mine laid by U.13 on the 4th. Six crew were lost.
North Sea - the British submarine force suffered its first loss of the war. On the Montrose-Obrestad air patrol line, SW of Stavanger, TRITON sighted OXLEY. After repeated challenges to which OXLEY failed to respond, TRITON fired two torpedoes at 2100 believing her to be an enemy. One torpedo struck and sank OXLEY. Only the commanding officer Lt Cdr H.G. Bowerman and AB H S Gluckes survived. The casualties were Lt R P Coppinger, Lt FK Manley RNR, Sub Lt W H Palmer, Warrant Engineering Officer R W C Robertson and forty nine ratings. Lt Cdr Bowerman was not held at fault for the loss and assumed command of destroyer WALPOLE on 21 November.
German waters - U.17 arrived at Kiel.
Baltic - a small German fishing vessel was sunk on a mine off Trelleborg, S Sweden and the survivors rescued by another German trawler.
Dutch waters - minelaying destroyers ESK and EXPRESS left Portsmouth early on the morning of the 10th and laid 120 mines that night in minefield AA off Terschelling in 53-32N, 5-07E before returning to Immingham. Next night, the 11th/12th, they laid field QQ in the Bight
English Channel – destroyer JACKAL attacked a submarine contact 10 miles S by W of the Needles, Isle of Wight.
Aircraft carrier HERMES and destroyers ILEX, IMOGEN, ISIS departed Portland on anti-submarine patrol, arriving at Plymouth on the 12th.
UK-France convoys and sailings - convoy of steamers BRIGHTON, CANTERBURY, MAID OF ORLEANS, PARIS departed Southampton on the 9th and anchored in the Solent overnight before setting of with troops for Cherbourg. MAID OF ORLEANS was damaged in a minor collision with the escort at the start, but was able to continue.
Convoy MB.1 of six slow cargo ships departed Southampton escorted by destroyers SARDONYX and two others (possibly VENOMOUS and WREN) from Portsmouth Command, arriving at at Brest on the 12th.
Bay of Biscay - U.34 was attacked by an Allied aircraft with a single bomb in the Bay, but no damage was done.
Mediterranean - destroyers COSSACK, MAORI, NUBIAN, ZULU had departed Alexandria on the 4th and after a patrol off Crete reached Malta. Leaving there on the 8th, they joined the escort of convoy AB.2 (Green 1) on this date, the 10th. Sister ships AFRIDI, GURKHA, MOHAWK, SIKH sailed from Alexandria on the 11th for escort duties and returned on the 17th. AFRIDI, GURKHA, SIKH left again on the 19th and headed for Malta. These duties continued until 7 October when 4th Flotilla was ordered to return to England.
Caribbean - light cruiser ORION arrived at Kingston.
Australian waters - Australian heavy cruisers AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA and light cruiser ADELAIDE searched for suspected German minelayers off Gabo Island until the 13th.
Pacific - Canadian destroyers FRASER and ST LAURENT, which departed Vancouver on 31 August, passed through the Panama Canal en route to Halifax where they arrived on the 15th.
German steamer TACOMA (8268grt) arrived at Talcuhuano, Chile to avoid New Zealand light cruiser ACHILLES on patrol off the west coast of Chile. There she joined steamers OSORNO (6951grt) which had arrived on the 1st and FRANKFORT (5522grt) on the 6th. ACHILLES made a 70 mile dash on this date to intercept LAHN (8498grt), but the German steamer escaped into territorial waters and later arrived at Talcuhuano on the 16th. Meanwhile, ACHILLES arrived at Valapariso late on the 10th.
Oxley was the older O class:
Triton was the newer T class, lost in Southern Adriatic Sea, Dec 18, 1940:
