Flotilla Leaders | 10| 3| 4| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Modern destroyers | 95|23|29|38|15| | | 5| | | | 4| 32| |29 |[A]| | | | | | | | | | | |[B]| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Destroyers of River | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | class and earlier | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | construction | | |10| 5|16| 7| |29| 1|11| 4| | | | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | P boats | | 2| 6| | 8| 9| 4| 1| | | | | | 5| --------------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--- November. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Flotilla Leaders | 11| 4| 6| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Modern destroyers |101|24|26|37| 9| | | 4| | | |29| 35| |32 |[A]| | | | | | | | | | | |[B]| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Destroyers of River | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | class and earlier | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | construction | | |10| 4| 8|12| 2|30| |11| 4| | | | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | P boats | | 2| 6| |31| | | 1| | | | | |10| --------------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--- [Footnote A: Includes destroyers detached for protection work in other commands.] [Footnote B: Includes United States destroyers.] There was the possible alternative of bringing only a small portion of the trade under convoy by taking all the available fast small craft from patrol duty and utilizing them to escort this portion of the trade, but it was felt that as this would leave the _whole_ of the remaining trade entirely without protection, and no fast patrol craft would be on the trade routes to pick up the crews of any merchant ships that might be sunk by submarines, the step was not justified. The next point for consideration was the possibility of obtaining destroyers or sloops from other sources with which to increase the forces for trade protection. The only commands on which it was possible to draw further were the Grand Fleet, the Harwich and Dover forces, the destroyers of old types working on the East Coast, or the destroyers and "P" boats protecting our cross-Channel communications west of the Dover Command.