HMS TIGRIS, commanded by LCDR H. F. Bone, and HMS TALISMAN, commanded by LCDR P. S. Francis, were the first 2 submarines to undertake this watch on the French Atlantic ports.

Three more Italian submarines - MALASPINA commanded by CDR Leoni, DANDOLO commanded by CDR Boris, and BARBARIGO commanded by CDR Ghilien, after operating in the area of the Azores and off Madeira, returned to the new submarine base at Bordeaux on July 31st.

EDITOR NOTE - That would be the 12th U-Bootflottille on the Gironde River some 12 miles up from the Bay of Biscay

At the same time, the following German boats, U-30, U-34, U-52, U-58 and U-99 operated from Lorient while U-37, U-38, U-46, U-48, U-51, U-56, U-57, U-59, U-60, U-61, U-62, U-65 and U-100 operated off the North Channel in various combinations from home ports and from Bergen, Norway.

On 1 August in Directive No. 17 Hitler orders intensification of the sea and air war against Britain with the aim of securing air and sea supremacy as a condition of Operation SEELOWE.

During her second patrol, HMS SPEARFISH was so badly damaged from depth charge attacks that she had to spend almost six months under repair at Newcastle. By the completion of her refit, LCDR John H. Forbes had been appointed as her captain. HMS SPEARFISH then moved north to operate with the 6th Flotilla at Blythe but for her last patrol, she put to sea from Rosyth on 31 July for an area off the Norwegian coast.

On 1 August at a point 145 miles east by south of Cape Nose Head and 180 miles west-southwest of Stavanger, HMS SPEARFISH was sighted through the periscope of U-34, commanded by LCDR Wilhelm Rollmann. U-34 was nearing the end of a very successful patrol. At first LCDR Rollmann could only see the submarine's conning tower but when she came into sight he could see that she was one of the smaller British "S" Class submarines. With his one remaining torpedo, LCDR Rollmann sent the SPEARFISH to the bottom. He immediately surfaced and went to the spot where the British submarine had been sunk. He arrived there within four minutes and picked up the sole survivor, a sailor, who was taken on board.

The SPEARFISH was the 19th British submarine to be lost in the war. The general situation in August was full of surprises, both in the European and the Mediterranean Theaters, which eventually had direct bearing on British submarine activities. On August 3, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became member states of the Soviet Union, which did not surprise Winston Churchill as he stated the Soviets always were after these countries.

Then on the 5th, Germany drew up preparatory studies for a campaign against the Soviet Union. At the same time, these studies were being made, the Soviet submarine SHCH-423 commanded by Captain 3rd Rank (LCDR) Zaidulin, was the first submarine to be transferred via Northern Seaway from Murmansk to Vladivostok accompanied by ice breakers and a tanker.

Operation SEALION must be mentioned because it brought British submarines in contact with German U-boats in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. Although the German U-boat commanders considered the chances of being torpedoed by a British submarine in the open sea to be very remote. The lenses of the German U-boat periscopes were considered far better than those of the British, whose submarines could be recognized from a much greater distance owing to the height and breadth of their conning towers. It was almost impossible for a British submarine to approach a German U-boat without being observed and if they did attack, the best protection was a good lookout against approaching torpedoes, especially near the German U-boat bases at Lorient and Brest.

The preparations instigated by the German Supreme Command for Operation SEALION was initiated on the 6th August, 1940. It was intended to concentrate the U-boats in the operational areas off the English South Coast, with formations of U-boats at each end of the English Channel. For the U-boats it meant only a change from attacks on merchant ships to attacks on British naval forces, and a change of location from the North Channel to the English Channel.

The contingent of U-boats would consist of seven Type IX, twelve Type VII and twenty Type II for a total of 39 boats. These U-boats would be deployed as follows:

a. Seven Type IX and ten Type VII would operate at the west end of the English Channel off the Cornish and Devonshire coast which included H.M. Royal Dockyard at Devonport

b. Nine Type II boats would operate between the Isle oi Wight and Dover, the east end of the English Channel thereby controlling the entrance to the Solent and H. M, Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth;

c. Six Type II boats would operate off the east coast of England between the Thames estuary and the Wash, thereby covering the British submarine base at Harwick,

d. Two Type II boats would operate between Blyth and the Firth of Forth;

e. Two Type VII and three Type II boats would operate off the Orkneys.