Commodore Tyrwhitt, with the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron (now comprising six light cruisers) and nine destroyers, left Harwich on the 6th to sweep towards the Skagerrak in search of enemy vessels, particularly fishing trawlers, which were suspected of acting as outpost vessels. The operation on this occasion was fruitful in result; 14 German trawlers were captured and sent in; one was also sunk. As usual during such operations when a supporting force was not actually at sea, the Battle Cruiser Fleet was kept at short notice for steam, to be ready to put to sea if required. On October 10th the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron left Scapa and swept down to the Little Fisher Bank, and thence to Rosyth with the same object in view as that of the Harwich force, being met at daylight on the 11th by destroyers from Rosyth, and arriving at that base on the 12th. On this occasion the operation gave no result. The Dreadnought Battle Fleet, comprising the 1st, 2nd and 4th Battle Squadrons, the 1st, 2nd and 7th Cruiser Squadrons, the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron, and the 2nd and 4th Flotillas, left Scapa on the 13th, and proceeded into the northern portion of the North Sea for a cruise. Owing to bad weather the destroyers were sent back on the 11th, one, the _Mandate_, being damaged by a heavy sea; the _Ardent_ and _Fortune_ collided, the former vessel being damaged. The fleet carried out battle exercises during the cruise, and returned to the bases at Scapa and Cromarty on the 15th, on which day the new battleship _Canada_ joined the Grand Fleet. On October 18th the Harwich force, consisting of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron and destroyers, sailed to operate off the Danish coast, north of the Horn Reef, against any enemy vessels found there. The _Lion_, with the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron and eight destroyers, left Rosyth to support the Harwich force, which closed the Danish coast at daylight on the 19th, then steered to the north-westward, till dark, returning afterwards to Harwich. The search was unproductive, no enemy vessels being sighted. The _Lion_ and 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron proceeded towards Cromarty, but were diverted to Scapa during the night of the 19th–20th, owing to a report of suspicious vessels, possibly mine-layers, being sighted off Noss Head. These vessels were subsequently identified as two of our own trawlers. On October 22nd three divisions of destroyers were sent from Scapa to hunt a submarine off Fair Island, but were forced to return owing to bad weather. On October 27th the 1st Cruiser Squadron, with two armed boarding-steamers, left Scapa to search the northern portion of the North Sea, returning on the 30th. Nothing was sighted.