The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman

      Set afire by her crew to prevent her capture by British destroyer HMS Hyperion, German passenger liner Columbus burns, 19 December 1939. (Author’s Collection)

      British light cruiser HMS Ajax, heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland, and New Zealand light cruiser HMNZS Achilles patrol off River Plate estuary (between Uruguay and Argentina); Ajax’s Seafox reconnoiters the area.

      17 Sunday

      Destroyers Ellis (DD 154) and Cole (DD 155) relieve Lea (DD 118) and Philip (DD 76) of shadowing German passenger liner Columbus.

      British RFA oiler Olynthus refuels New Zealand light cruiser HMNZS Achilles off Rouen Bank, the southernmost channel of the River Plate estuary (between Uruguay and Argentina). Light cruiser HMS Ajax and heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland cover the evolution.

      German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee, her allotted time in neutral Uruguayan waters for repair of damage received in the Battle of the River Plate (between Uruguay and Argentina) having expired, and her crew transferred to freighter Tacoma, puts to sea from Montevideo, Uruguay, and is scuttled about five miles west-southwest of the entrance of Montevideo Harbor, 35°11′S, 56°26′W. The destruction of Admiral Graf Spee comes, as First Lord of the Admiralty Winston S. Churchill later declares, “like a flash of light and colour on the scene, carrying with it an encouragement to all who are fighting, to ourselves, and to our Allies” (see 30 December and 1 January 1940).¹⁵

      U.S. freighters Meanticut and Excalibur are detained by British authorities at Gibraltar (see 18 December and 31 December, respectively).

      18 Monday

      Destroyers Greer (DD 145) and Upshur (DD 144) relieve destroyers Ellis (DD 154) and Cole (DD 155) of shadowing German passenger liner Columbus. Later that same day, heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA 37) replaces the destroyers in trailing the passenger ship.

      U.S. freighter Meanticut, detained by British authorities at Gibraltar the previous day, is released.

      19 Tuesday

      British destroyer HMS Hyperion intercepts German passenger liner Columbus about 450 miles east of Cape May, New Jersey; the latter is scuttled to prevent capture. Two crewmen perish in the abandonment at 38°01′N, 65°41′W. Heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA 37) rescues Columbus’s survivors (567 men and nine women stewardesses) and sets course for New York City, the only U.S. port that can handle such a large and sudden influx of aliens.

      British light cruiser HMS Orion intercepts German freighter Arauca off Miami, Florida; the latter puts in to Port Everglades to avoid capture. Destroyer Truxtun (DD 229) has trailed the merchantman at one point; destroyer Philip (DD 76) is present when Arauca reaches sanctuary. USAAC B-18 (21st Reconnaissance Squadron), however, witnesses the shot that Orion fires over Arauca’s bow (in the attempt to force the latter to heave-to) splashing inside American territorial waters off Hialeah, Florida. Learning of this incident, Secretary of State Cordell Hull instructs U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James Joseph P. Kennedy to remind the British Foreign Office that, as neutrals, the American republics are entitled to have their waters “free from the commission of any hostile act by any non-American belligerent nation.”¹⁶

      U.S. freighter Nishmaha is free to sail from Marseilles to continue her voyage, but port conditions and weather prevent her from sailing as scheduled.

      20 Wednesday

      Submarine tender Bushnell (AS 2), operating out of Tutuila, Samoa, as a survey ship under the auspices of the Hydrographic Office, completes Pacific Islands surveys, having covered a total of 76,000 nautical square miles since commencing that work on 1 July.

      Heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA 37) disembarks scuttled German passenger liner Columbus’s “distressed mariners” at Ellis Island, New York City.

      Destroyer Twiggs (DD 127), on neutrality patrol in Yucatan Channel, relieves Evans (DD 78) of duty trailing British RFA tanker Patella.

      German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee’s former commanding officer, Kapitan zur See Hans Langsdorff, commits suicide at Montevideo, Uruguay.

      U.S. freighter Exochorda arrives at Naples with the 45 tons of tin plate condemned by the British prize court at Gibraltar among her cargo, having been permitted to sail by her master’s agreeing to ship the 45 tons of tin to Marseilles from Genoa, Italy. Another 100 tons of tin, however, consigned to a Swiss buyer, are put on the “detained list” and held in Genoa at the disposal of the British consul. That turn of affairs prompts U.S. Ambassador in Italy William Phillips to take up the matter with the British Ambassador, who expresses his awareness of the “irritation and resentment . . . in American commercial and shipping circles” over the seemingly “arbitrary, careless, and casual” methods shown by the British contraband control people.

      U.S. freighters Oakwood, bound for Genoa, Italy, and Executive, bound for Greece, Turkey, and Romania, are detained by British authorities at Gibraltar (see 23 December and 3 January 1940, respectively).

      21 Thursday

      Destroyer Twiggs (DD 127), on neutrality patrol in Yucatan Channel, continues trailing British RFA tanker Patella.

      22 Friday

      Destroyer Philip (DD 76) relieves Twiggs (DD 127) of neutrality patrol duty trailing British RFA tanker Patella off east coast of Florida; while en route to Fort Lauderdale, Twiggs observes British light cruiser HMS Orion off Port Everglades and anchors to keep an eye on the British warship as the latter prowls the coast.

      23 Saturday

      Typhoon passes within 100 miles of Guam, M.I.; although the gale force winds cause little damage to Navy property, they cause widespread crop and property damage in the native quarters.

      U.S. freighters Explorer (detained at Gibraltar since 9 December) and Oakwood (detained there since 20 December) are released