On November 6th the 1st and 2nd Light Cruiser Squadrons, with destroyers, left Scapa and Rosyth respectively, to carry out an operation in the Skagerrak. The force was timed to arrive at the eastern end of the Skagerrak at dawn on the 7th, and to sweep westward during daylight in order that our ships should be between the enemy and his Baltic base if enemy ships were sighted. The _Lion_, with the 1st and 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadrons and destroyers, left Rosyth in time to be in a supporting position by daylight on the 7th. A large number of vessels were boarded by the destroyers, but nothing suspicious was encountered, and the forces returned to the bases on November 8th. During the night of November 6th–7th the battleship _Hibernia_, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral S. Fremantle, with the _Zealandia_ and _Albemarle_, passed through the Pentland Firth to the westward _en route_ for southern ports and the Mediterranean. A strong wind was blowing against the spring tides, and a very heavy sea was running in the Firth, as was not unusual. Whilst passing through the Firth the _Albemarle_, Captain R. A. Nugent, shipped two heavy seas which washed away her fore bridge, with everyone on it, and even displaced the roof of the conning tower; hundreds of tons of water flooded the decks and poured down below. An officer and one man were washed overboard and drowned, and several men injured; Captain Nugent found himself on the upper deck amidst the wreckage of the bridge. The _Hibernia_, which was ahead, turned to assist the _Albemarle_, and an urgent signal for assistance was received on board the _Iron Duke_. One of the emergency cruisers at Scapa was directed to raise steam with all despatch; the _Hibernia_ arrived in with the _Albemarle_ at daylight. The ship presented an extraordinary sight, the sea having made a clean sweep of her bridge and everything on it. In all our experience of the Pentland Firth, we had never witnessed such havoc before. The _Zealandia_ was also obliged to turn back to repair her gunports, damaged by the sea in the Firth. The next few days were marked only by comparatively trifling incidents. On November 6th the _Birkenhead_, which had recently been commissioned, completed her practices at Scapa and joined the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron at Rosyth. Two days later the _Princess Margaret_ laid mines successfully in the Heligoland Bight; on the 9th the _Crescent_, harbour-defence vessel at Hoy Sound, was withdrawn and left to pay off; and the _Matchless_, of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, struck a drifting mine in southern waters, her stern being blown off.