German light cruiser Leipzig . ©Warshipsresearch.blogspot.com
German light cruiser Nürnberg. ©Warshipsresearch.blogspot.com
An item reported that British aircraft sighted in the fore noon of Wednesday 13 December German destroyers 1290 miles west of Jutland. The British submarine HMS Salmon (1) spotted a German naval force consisting of two pocket battleships, 2-8” cruisers and 2-5.9”cruisers going west atacking a Leipzig-class cruiser. Result was a strenghtening of the Northern Patrol and extra ships made available for protecting the Canadian troop transport now underway. Submarines were ordered to take strategic positions to untercept the German warships and destroyers were to sweep and patrol in the North Sea. Germany later confirmed that one cruiser was damaged. Aircraft patrolling since daylight 14 December sighted in the afternoon in the neighbourhead of Heligoland 1 battleship, 1 cruiser and 3 destroyers. Enemy aircraft prevented an attack on these ships.
Note
1. Part of S-class preceded by Rainbow-class succeeded by River-classs. Laid down by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, England on 15 June 1933, launched on 30 April 1934, commissioned on 8 March 1935 and sunk on 9 July 1940 probably due to hitting a mine off Norway. She sighted on 11 December damaging with torpedoes the German light cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg and was hunted by destroyers for tow hours but managed to escape.
Source
The National Archives, Kew Gardens, England CAB-66-4-13 Weekly Résumé (No. 15) of the naval, military and air situation from 0700 7 December to 0700 14 December 1939.
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