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• Weather data for 30 Jan 1940

• German submarine U-55 sank British tanker Vaclite, part of convoy OA-80G, 50 miles off of Land's End in southwestern England at 0700 hours. The crew of 35 was rescued by Italian steamer Pollenzo. At 1100 hours, U-55 sank Greek ship Keramlai. Later that day, U-55 was found and depth charged by British (HMS Whitshed, and HMS Fowey) and French (Valmy and Guépard) destroyers and a No. 228 Squadron RAF Sunderland aircraft. 41 of the German crew surrendered; Kapitänleutnant Werner Heidel chose to go down with his ship. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German torpedo boat Iltis mis-identified German submarine U-15 as a hostile vessel and rammed her 50 miles north of Wilhelmshaven, Germany. U-15 sank, killing the entire crew of 25. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German aircraft bombed shipping in the English Channel and the North Sea, sinking British cargo steamers Highwave, Giralda, and Bancrest off the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland. British ship Voreda was badly damaged and beached near Winterton, England. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The first confirmed U-Boat kill by an aircraft occurred when British destroyer HMS Whitshed, British sloop HMS Fowey, French destroyer Valmy, French destroyer Guépard, and a British No. 228 Squadron S.25 Sunderland aircraft sank German submarine U-55 with depth charges. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC, DS]

30 Jan 1940 Interactive Map