"hans lody" transferred to france on 9 september in preparation for operation sealion, the planned invasion of great britain. now based at brest, the ship helped to lay a minefield in falmouth bay during the night of 28/29 september. five ships totalling only 2,026 grt were sunk by this minefield. during a royal air force air raid on brest on 10 october, "hans lody" was slightly damaged by bomb splinters and strafing, losing two crewmen killed and seven wounded during the attack. bey led "hans lody" and four other destroyers during a sortie for the southwest approaches on 17 october and were intercepted by a british force of two light cruisers and five destroyers. the british opened fire at extreme range and were forced to disengage in the face of long-range torpedo volleys and attacks by luftwaffe bombers without having hit any of the german ships. on the night of 24–25 november, "hans lody" and the destroyers and sortied from brest, bound for the land's end area. en route they encountered some fishing ships south-west of wolf rock and engaged them with gunfire with little effect. the german ships then spotted a small convoy and sank one of the three merchantmen and damaged another. the flash from the guns alerted the five destroyers of the british 5th destroyer flotilla, but they could not intercept the german destroyers before dawn. three nights later the german ships sortied again for the same area. they encountered two tugboats and a barge, but only sank one of the former and the barge, totaling 424 grt. this time the 5th destroyer flotilla was able to intercept around 06:30 on 29 november. the germans opened fire first, each destroyer firing four torpedoes, of which only two from "hans lody" hit their target, . the torpedoes hit at each end of the ship and blew off her bow and stern, but the british were able to tow her home. "hans lody" was hit by two 2-pounder (40 mm) shells during the engagement, but suffered no casualties. the ship returned home on 5 december for a refit in wesermünde that lasted until april 1941.