HMS Starfish sailed from Blyth for patrol on 5 January 1940. On 9 January, she sighted a German destroyer and attacked it. A communication problem caused the first attack to fail and as the submarine returned to periscope depth to carry out another attack she was attacked by depth charges. Further depth charge attacks forced Starfish to settle on the bottom and wait for the enemy to move on. At 18:15 Starfish returned to the surface, all confidential documents were destroyed and the submarine scuttled. The ship’s company were picked up by the waiting ships and taken as prisoners of war.