13 Oct 1940 | World War II Database

13 Oct 1940

During the night, many British aircraft were launched to attack battleship Tirpitz in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, but in poor weather only 4 Hampden aircraft were able to locate the port. Not hits were scored on Tirpitz. ww2dbase [Tirpitz | CPC]
British rescue tug HMRT Danube III hit a mine in the mouth of the Thames Estuary and sank off Sheerness, Kent in southern England; 11 were killed. ww2dbase [CPC]

Atlantic Ocean

German submarine U-103 attacked Estonian ship Nora 200 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0846 hours with a torpedo; as Nora remained afloat, Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze of U-103 realized Nora's lifeboats were all destroyed during the attack, and broadcasted a distress message with the damaged ship's position; British sloop HMS Leith would arrive several days later and would rescue 19 survivors. German submarine U-37 sank British ship Stangrant west of Scotland, United Kingdom at 1957 hours; 8 were killed and 30 survived. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]

Mediterranean Sea

At dawn, a British flying boat spotted Italian destroyer Camicia Nera towing destroyer Artigliere, which was damaged on the previous day during the Battle of Cape Passero east of Malta. Aircraft from HMS Illustrious forced Camicia Nera to cut the tow line, and then cruisers HMS York and HMS Ajax and four destroyers sank Artigliere with torpedoes. The British warships dropped rafts for the Italian survivors before departing; many of the survivors would be rescued by an Italian hospital ship on the following day. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | York | CPC]
HMS York sank the abandoned Italian destroyer Artigliere in the Mediterranean Sea, which had been disabled by HMS Ajax on the previous evening. ww2dbase [Artigliere | York | CPC]

United Kingdom

Four raids of 25 to 50 aircraft attacked southern England, United Kingdom between 1230 and 1600 hours, consisted mostly of fighters. The Germans and the British each lost 2 fighters. Overnight, London was bombed from 1900 hours until 0600 hours of the next day; Middlesborough, Hull, Huddersfield, Grantham, Liverpool, and Manchester were also attacked overnight. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis

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