(HMS Dorsetshire did not sink a raider, but a supply ship for the raiders and U-Boats. The unnamed ship was the 3,664-ton freighter Python, which had on board survivors from the raider Atlantis, which was sunk by HMS Devonshire on Nov. 22. HMS Dorsetshire would join Python on the bottom of the sea on Apr. 5, 1942 when she was sunk by Japanese aircraft.)

(Report claims Thunderbolt had sunk an Italian U-Boat. This was true. On Dec. 15, 1940, a year ago, Thunderbolt sank the Italian submarine Capitano Tarantini.)

("Our navy winning" a more absurd headline could not be found.)

(U-boats sank another 25,000 GRT.)

(Blockade battle forces England to radically stretch tonnage.)

Historical note: On this day OPNAV (Chief of Naval Operations) Admiral Ernest J. King issued the following order to CINCPAC (Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet) CINCAF (Commander-in-Chief Asiatic Fleet) and Naval Coastal Forces: "Execute UNRESTRICTED air and submarine warfare against Japan. Inform Army. CINCAF inform British and Dutch." This order was received in Pearl Harbor at 2245 hrs. This order was used in the defense of Großadmiral Karl Dönitz, Commander-in-Chief of U-Boats at Nürnberg. It was instrumental in keeping him from receiving the death penalty.

Also on this day Adolf Hitler issued what would be known as the Nacht und Nebel [Night and Fog] decree. In short, the directive was a terror weapon directed at people in the occupied territories. The goal was to get rid of political opponents, saboteurs and anyone involved in anti-German activities, to terrorize the families into silence and to keep others from engaging in such activities. Rather than imprison such people, they were to disappear in to the night and fog and the families would never know if they were alive or dead. To anyone who has lost a relative in this way, it is the most devastating kind of torture one can imagine. It is a torture that goes on for the rest of one's life, unless, of course, the relative comes home. The directive was expanded over the years to include more targets of Nazi hate. As is always the case, they start with a small, targeted group of people, then, the number of "enemies" increases to include just about anyone for any reason.