19 February 1944 Part 1

19 February 1944 Channel Islands Sea Defence diary

Weather: wind from 135°, 11 metres per second. At 06:10 FK 31 was rammed by the coastal motor sailing vessel Irene at Noirmont Point, Jersey, and sank immediately. The crew was rescued; one man lightly injured. Responsibility would be determined by questioning both crews and opening a marine-casualty inquiry.

This command's B.Nr. G 4702 H of 30 August 1943 had already pointed out that harbour-protection boats were unsuitable for convoy duties, especially in the narrow waters off Jersey. Without prejudging responsibility for FK 31's loss, it must again be stressed that assigning them such duties in these waters seems neither right nor expedient. Their personnel and equipment cannot meet these requirements, particularly in difficult weather. They are neither seaworthy nor fast enough, and their armament offers insufficient protection. Above all, their navigational aids are extremely primitive: only a chart, dividers and tide table. In my opinion they cannot therefore be entrusted with escort duties.

Patrol boats' reluctance to enter the narrow waters off Jersey is probably due chiefly to the difficult channels. Yet those boats have modern navigational aids—gyrocompass, bearing equipment on each bridge wing, radio direction finding, echo sounder and so forth—and, above all, the necessary navigating personnel. If even they avoid this passage at night where possible, harbour-protection boats, much worse in every respect, cannot reasonably be expected to perform convoy duties there. The few boats available to Jersey Harbour Protection Group are also fully occupied with their own duties.

Convoys for Jersey should therefore be taken over by harbour-protection boats at Noirmont Point, rather than as early as Corbière; the accompanying patrol boats should escort them as far as Noirmont Point. With the limitations already described, harbour-protection boats cannot reach Corbière in approximately force 5 winds. Such conditions are effectively the rule, making the ordered escort from Corbière to Jersey generally impracticable. It is therefore again proposed that convoys approaching from the north should in future be met by Jersey Harbour Protection Group only at Noirmont Point.

Roll 2422, scans 0791–0792, original pages 13–14.