No. of ships intercepted, including trawlers, 112; No. sent in, 35; No. on patrol, 13; No. absent at ports or en route to or from patrols, 10; No. on special service, 0.
The weather at Scapa and in the neighbourhood was foggy and misty during a great part of the month. Much mist or fog was experienced from the 1st to the 6th, the 10th to the 12th, and 13th to 16th.
During the month Grand Fleet submarines were exercised at Scapa Flow in carrying out attacks on ships under way, and the destroyer flotillas were similarly practised in making torpedo attacks, the Battle Fleet divisions being exercised in countering such attacks by turning movements. These exercises were continued for the remainder of the year, and much experience was obtained from them as to the different methods of dealing with attacks by enemy destroyers during a Fleet action.
CHAPTER XVII
THE SUBMARINE PERIL, TO MERCHANT SHIPPING; RECALL TO THE ADMIRALTY
Events were to prove that my period of command of the Grand Fleet was drawing to a close, my transfer to the Admiralty occurring at the end of November, 1917.
But before coming to that development something must be said in continuation of the narrative of the work of the Grand Fleet.
During the month of September, 1916, there was not much movement by the Fleet as a whole. On the 4th, the 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron and 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, with eleven destroyers, left Rosyth, swept towards the Naze, then down to the southward of the Little Fisher Bank, and back to Rosyth. On the same day three divisions of destroyers from Scapa endeavoured without success to locate a submarine reported by the Talisman to the eastward of the Pentland Skerries. On the 7th a further unsuccessful search for a submarine was carried out in the same locality.
On the 10th the 1st and 4th Light Cruiser Squadrons left Rosyth and Scapa respectively to exchange bases, carrying out a search of the North Sea en route, and on the 20th two light cruisers and four destroyers left Rosyth for a similar sweep to that carried out on the 4th.
On the 22nd numerous reports of submarines to the eastward made it necessary to move the patrol line of the 10th Cruiser Squadron temporarily farther west.
On September 20th the Battle Fleet, 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron, 4th Light Cruiser Squadron, Campania, and the destroyer flotillas left Scapa for a cruise between the Orkneys and Shetland Islands and the Norwegian coast. Three battleships, three cruisers, two light cruisers, and ten destroyers were absent, undergoing refit. Battle exercises were carried out during the cruise. A submarine was reported on the intended track of the fleet on return, and the base was, therefore, approached by another route, the available local patrol vessels being employed to keep the submarine submerged during the entry of the fleet to Scapa.