The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
(see 27 June).
Destroyer Herbert (DD 160) arrives at Casablanca, French Morocco (see 23 June).
Destroyer Dickerson (DD 157), attached to Squadron 40-T, departs Lisbon for Bilbao, Spain (see 22 June).
22 Saturday
Franco-German armistice is signed at Compiegne, France. France is divided: One zone is occupied by the Germans, the other administered by the French government from the city of Vichy. Free French government is established in exile in England by General Charles DeGaulle. Among the terms of the armistice is the specification that the French fleet, except portions necessary to safeguard France’s colonial interests, will be gathered in French metropolitan ports and demobilized and disarmed under German and Italian control.
Destroyer Dickerson (DD 157) arrives at Bilbao, Spain; she will remain there, safeguarding American interests, until 3 July.
Prince Konoye Fumimaro forms new Japanese cabinet with General Tojo Hideki as Minister of War and Matsuoka Yosuke as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
23 Sunday
Portuguese police arrest 30 sailors (three of whom are injured in the fracas) from light cruiser Trenton (CL 11) in street brawl in Santo Amaro Oerias, a suburb of Lisbon.
Destroyer Herbert (DD 160) proceeds from Casablanca, French Morocco, to Lisbon with American refugees.
24 Monday
Charles Edison, who had devoted himself to accelerating naval construction and to technical advances in the naval service, resigns as Secretary of the Navy. Lewis Compton, Assistant Secretary of the Navy since 9 February, becomes Acting Secretary. Edison will become Governor of New Jersey.
France signs armistice with Italy.
Japan requests that British close the Burma Road, thus severing the Allied supply line to China.
Rear Admiral Charles A. Blakely relieves Rear Admiral Joseph R. Defrees as Commandant Eleventh Naval District and Commandant Naval Operating Base, San Diego, California.
25 Tuesday
Franco-German armistice becomes effective and hostilities cease.
Act of Congress abolishes Construction Corps of the Navy; constructors are given line officer status designated for Engineering Duty Only (EDO). In addition, the status of those line officers who had previously been designated for Aeronautical Engineering Duty Only (AEDO) were redesignated EDO.
Destroyer O’Brien (DD 415) departs Buenos Aires, Argentina, for Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil (see 27 June).
27 Thursday
Romania yields to Soviet ultimatum and cedes Bessarabia and northern Bukovina.
President Roosevelt declares a national emergency and invokes Espionage Act of 1917 to exercise control over shipping movements in territorial waters and in vicinity of the Panama Canal.
President Roosevelt establishes eight-man National Defense Research Committee (Dr. Vannevar Bush, Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C., chairman) to correlate and support scientific research on the mechanisms and devices of war; Rear Admiral Harold G. Bowen, Director of the Naval Research Laboratory, Anacostia Station, Washington, D.C., represents the U.S. Navy.
Heavy cruiser Wichita (CA 45), with Commander Cruiser Division 7 (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) embarked, departs Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, en route to join heavy cruiser Quincy (CA 39) at Montevideo, Uruguay (see 30 June).
Destroyer O’Brien (DD 415) reaches Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil, as her shakedown cruise to Latin American ports continues (see 29 June).
29 Saturday
Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25), accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG 26), departs Washington (D.C.) Navy Yard with President Roosevelt embarked, for a cruise down the Potomac River (see 30 June).
Destroyer O’Brien (DD 415) departs Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil, bound for Santos, Brazil, as her shakedown cruise to Latin American ports continues (see 1 July).
30 Sunday
Naval ships and district craft on hand (all types)—1,099. Personnel: Navy—160,997; Marine Corps—28,364; Coast Guard—13,766. Total personnel—203,127.
Heavy cruiser Wichita (CA 45), with Commander Cruiser Division 7 (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) embarked, reaches Montevideo, Uruguay, joining heavy cruiser Quincy (CA 39) to begin a tour of Latin American ports “to furnish a reminder of the strength and the range of action of the armed forces of the United States” (see 3 July).
Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25), accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG 26), returns to Washington (D.C.) Navy Yard with President Roosevelt embarked, after a cruise down the Potomac River.
JULY
1 Monday
Navy awards contracts for 44 ships.
Headquarters Marine Aircraft Wing, Fleet Marine Force (Brigadier General Ross E. Rowell, USMC) is established at the Marine Corps Base, San Diego, California.
U.S. Ambassador to France William C. Bullitt has lengthy private interview with the President of the French Council of Ministers, Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, in which the latter informs the envoy that orders had been given “to every captain of the French Fleet to sink his ship rather than permit [it] to fall into German hands.” The same day, Bullitt also has interview with Admiral François Darlan, who informs him that if the Germans should demand the fleet, it had orders to leave at once for Martinique and Guantánamo to place its ships in U.S. hands. He echoes Marshal Pétain’s declaration that French ships had orders to scuttle if the Germans attempt to seize them.
Destroyer O’Brien (DD 415) reaches Santos, Brazil, as her shakedown cruise to Latin American ports continues (see 3 July).
2 Tuesday
Congress passes Export Control Act giving the President the power, whenever he deems “necessary in the interest of national defense,” to prohibit or curtail the exportation of military equipment, munitions, tools, and materials.
3 Wednesday
Operation CATAPULT: British warships attack French naval vessels at Mers-el-Kebir, near Oran, Algeria, sinking battleship Bretagne, damaging battleship Provence and battle cruiser Dunkerque, and sinking seaplane tender Commandant Teste and destroyer Mogadore; French men-of-war in British ports (principally Portsmouth and Plymouth) are seized.
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) depart Montevideo, Uruguay, for Brazilian waters (see 5 July).
Light cruiser Phoenix (CL 46) reaches Balboa, C.Z. (see 5 July).
Destroyer O’Brien (DD 415) departs Santos, Brazil, for Pará, Brazil (see 9 July).
5 Friday
Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Great Britain.
President Roosevelt invokes Export Control Act against Japan by prohibiting exportation, without license, of strategic minerals and chemicals, aircraft engines, parts, and equipment.
Admiral James O. Richardson arrives in Washington, D.C., for conferences with the President and Navy and State Department officials concerning the retention of the U.S. Fleet in Hawaiian waters. He will depart to return to the fleet on 17 July.
Light cruiser Omaha (CL 4) relieves light cruiser Trenton (CL 11) as flagship for Squadron 40-T (Rear Admiral David M. LeBreton) at Lisbon, Portugal.
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) reach Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil (see 11 July).
Light cruiser Phoenix (CL 46) departs Balboa, C.Z., for Valparaiso, Chile (see 12 July).
8 Monday
British