18 Nov 1940
- Overnight, RAF bombers raided Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr region of Germany, bombing the Scholven/Buer hydrogenation plant, which made aviation fuel, and Gelsenberg-Benzin-AG plant, which converted bituminous coal to synthetic oil. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
- German submarine U-65 sank British tanker Congonian 125 miles west of Freetown, Sierra Leone at 1802 hours; 1 was killed and 35 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
- British cruiser HMS York departed Port Said, Egypt with a battalion of troops for Suda Bay, Crete, Greece, and anti-aircraft guns for Piraeus, Greece. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | York | CPC]
- HMS Edinburgh departed Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde, Scotland, United Kingdom to escort Allied convoy WS4B to Freetown, British West Africa. ww2dbase [Edinburgh | CPC]
- Maggiore Baracca set course for Bordeaux, France in the northern Atlantic Ocean at 1130 hours. At about 1735 hours, she spotted smoke, but an accidental fire in the starboard diesel engine caused her to slow her approach. Nevertheless, she caught up with British freighter Lilian Moller of Allied convoy SLS 53D, carrying pig iron from Calcutta in India for the United Kingdom, at 2147 hours. She fired a torpedo from a bow tube, which missed. At 2303 hours, she fired another torpedo from a bow tube, hitting the freighter in the stern. Lilian Moller sank at 2347 hours. One lifeboat with survivors was observed, but it would never been seen again, thus all 49 aboard the freighter were lost as the result of the sinking. 42 of those lost were Chinese sailors. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | CPC]
- Capitano Tarantini began patrolling waters northwest of Ireland. ww2dbase [Capitano Tarantini | CPC]
18 Nov 1940 Interactive Map
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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