HMAS WATERHEN, (destroyer), on the Libyan coast, sank the Italian supply schooner TIREREMO DIRRITO, west of Bardia. From a prisoner the destroyer learnt the schooner was carrying the garrison’s Christmas mail and comforts.
HMAS NAPIER, (destroyer), at Scapa Flow, Scotland, recorded ‘a coldly sober Christmas’. The fare was turkey, apple pie and ice cream. A disappointed sailor wrote: ‘Never even spliced the main brace. Never will forget it’.