At this night two strong RN forces were out, each a cruiser/destroyer combinaton looking for German mine-layers. Their only achievement was that the cruiser HMS Galatea hit a mine. Typically, the two forces didn't leave their bases untill after dark due to the fear of Luftwaffe attacks. RN vessels had standing orders not to venture out in the Channel in daylight. Lessons learned during the Dunkirk evacuation and the "Kanalkampf".Knouterer wrote:To get back to Smith's book for a second, on page 120 he writes about minelaying operation Hannelore on the night of 8-9 September by the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla (T-5, T-6, T-7 and T-8):
"This time they were extremely fortunate to escape both detection and annihilation; only more bad weather saved them." (because strong RN destroyer forces were out that night)
That would suggest that if the weather had been better, and if they had been escorting much bigger and slower Minenschiffe, detection and annihilation would have been almost certain.
Fred