Editing Channel Dash (section)

====Readiness====
[[File:Rade de Brest.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|{{centre|Brest Roads ({{lang|fr|Rade de Brest}})}}]]
The preliminaries of the German manoeuvre, especially minesweeping in the Channel and the transit of destroyers to Brest, led the Admiralty to issue a forecast that a sortie into the Atlantic was improbable and that a move to sheltered waters by a dash up the Channel rather than via the Denmark Strait or into the Mediterranean to Italian ports was to be expected. Next day the Nore Command was ordered to keep six destroyers on call in the [[Thames]] and be ready to send six torpedo boats to reinforce those at Dover. The fast {{sclass|Abdiel|minelayer|1}}s {{HMS|Manxman|M70|6}} and {{HMS|Welshman|M84|6}} were detached to Plymouth Command to mine the Brest approaches and to Dover to mine the eastern exit of the Channel respectively. Most submarines were in the Mediterranean but two training boats were sent into the [[Bay of Biscay]]. On 6 February, {{HMS|Sealion|72S|6}} the only modern submarine in home waters, was allowed to sail into Brest Roads, the commander using information supplied through Ultra on minefields, swept channels and training areas. The six operational Swordfish torpedo-bombers of 825 Squadron FAA (Lieutenant-Commander [[Eugene Esmonde]]) were moved from [[RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus)|RNAS Lee-on-Solent]] to [[RAF Manston]] in [[Kent]], closer to Dover.{{sfn|Roskill|1962|pp=150–153}}

The RAF alerted its forces involved in Operation Fuller to indefinite readiness and on 3 February, 19 Group, Coastal Command began night reconnaissance patrols by [[ASV Mark II radar|Air to Surface Vessel Mk II radar]] (ASV) equipped [[Lockheed Hudson]]s, supposedly able to detect ships at {{cvt|30|nmi|mi+km}} range.{{sfn|Hinsley|1994|p=135}} Patrol line ''Stopper'' was already being flown off Brest and ''Line South East'' from [[Ushant]] to the Isle de Bréhat and ''Habo'' from Le Havre to Boulogne began. Coastal Command had three Beaufort torpedo-bomber squadrons in Britain, [[No. 42 Squadron RAF|42 Squadron]] at [[Leuchars Station|RAF Leuchars]] in Scotland, {{nowrap|12 Beauforts}} of [[No. 86 Squadron RAF|86 Squadron]] and [[No. 217 Squadron RAF|217 Squadron]] in Cornwall and seven 217 Squadron aircraft at Thorney Island (Portsmouth).{{sfn|Roskill|1962|p=153}}{{sfn|Richards|1974|p=366}} Two days later, Enigma showed that Ciliax had joined ''Scharnhorst'' and with the recent exercises, led the Admiralty to predict an impending departure. On 8 February, in a break in the weather, PR found that the ships were still in harbour, ''Scharnhorst'' was in dock and that another two destroyers had arrived.{{sfn|Hinsley|1994|pp=135–136}}

[[Air Chief Marshal]] [[Philip Joubert de la Ferté]], [[Air Officer Commanding]] (AOC) Coastal Command, sent an appreciation to Fighter and Bomber commands, that a sortie could be expected any time after 10 February. The Coastal Command groups were alerted and 42 Squadron was ordered to fly its {{nowrap|14 Beauforts}} south to [[Norfolk]] (the move was delayed until next day by snow on the airfields in [[East Anglia]]). Air Vice Marshal [[Jack Baldwin (RAF officer)|J. E. A. Baldwin]], AOC Bomber Command, stood down half of its bombers and reduced the other {{nowrap|100 aircraft}} from four to two hours' notice, without informing the Admiralty.{{sfn|Hinsley|1994|pp=135–136}} On 11 February, ''Sealion'' moved towards Brest on the afternoon tide, found nothing and returned at {{nowrap|8:35 p.m.}} to re-charge batteries, ready for another try the next day. The German ships had been scheduled to depart Brest at {{nowrap|7:30 p.m.}} but were delayed by a Bomber Command raid, which had been ordered after photo-reconnaissance had found the ships still in harbour with [[torpedo net]]s deployed at {{nowrap|4:15 p.m.}} For the previous week, Enigma had been providing information that the Germans were minesweeping on a route that made a dash up the Channel a certainty and with reference to captured charts gave away the German route, which was passed on by the Admiralty at {{nowrap|12:29 p.m.}} on 12 February. (The daily naval Enigma Home Waters settings for {{nowrap|10–12 February}} took Bletchley Park until 15 February to break.){{sfn|Hinsley|1994|p=136}}