Editing HMS Devonshire (39) (section)

====Operation Menace====
In preparation for [[Operation Menace]], a British naval attack on [[Dakar]], Senegal, prior to a planned landing by the Free French, the ship was detached from the Home Fleet on 28 August and was assigned to Force M, the Royal Navy component of the operation. Still Cunningham's flagship, she departed the Clyde on the 31st, escorting the troop convoy en route to [[Gibraltar]]<ref>Rohwer, pp. 36, 38, 40</ref> where they arrived on 3 September. On the 14th, Cunningham dispatched the 1st CS, augmented by the aircraft carrier {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|2}}, in an unsuccessful attempt to locate and turn back a Vichy French cruiser squadron bound for Dakar; by this time he had hoisted his flag in the battleship {{HMS|Barham|04|2}}. ''Devonshire'' and her Australian sister ship {{HMAS|Australia|D84|2}} engaged the French cruisers and destroyers as they manoeuvred in the harbour on the second day of the battle, with negligible effect in poor visibility. After ''Barham'' was lightly damaged during the action, Cunningham transferred back to ''Devonshire'' for the next day's battle during which the ship fired 200 shells from her main guns without scoring a single hit against French ships obscured by [[smoke screen]]s.<ref>Jordan and Dumas, pp. 142–143, 147</ref>

After the attack was abandoned, she was employed to escort a British troop convoy to [[Douala]], [[French Cameroons]], in early October and then blockaded the coast of [[Gabon]] when Free French forces [[Battle of Gabon|invaded in early November]].<ref>Rohwer, pp. 43, 48</ref> On 7 November, her [[Supermarine Walrus]] seaplane helped to sink the Vichy submarine {{ship|French submarine|Poncelet|Q141|2}} off Gabon.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12047498/Commander-David-Corky-Corkhill-obituary.html|title=Commander David Corky Corkhill obituary|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=13 December 2015|access-date=22 March 2016}}</ref>