The account shows how constant sea time improved seamanship while reducing opportunities for gunnery and torpedo practice. The memoir therefore distinguishes hard-earned seagoing competence from the technical proficiency that only deliberate exercises could maintain. During Operation Hats, Force H covered reinforcements for Malta and the eastern Mediterranean under repeated Italian air attack. The return became especially dangerous when Garland broke down, leaving four destroyers exposed within range of Sardinian airfields and without radar warning.
Chapter · 31:41-36:24
Destroyer routine and Operation Hats in the Mediterranean
J. Dennis's destroyer memoir contrasts exhausting patrol routines with Operation Hats, Italian high-level bombing, and the risks of escorting a disabled ship without radar.