The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
disable French battleship Richelieu at Dakar, French West Africa. In the first, four depth charges dropped over the side of a motor boat from carrier HMS Hermes fail to explode. In the second, FAA Swordfish TSR (torpedo spotting reconnaissance) planes (No. 814 Squadron) torpedo Richelieu, rendering her incapable of steaming at more than half power. Her main battery, however, is unaffected.
9 Tuesday
Destroyer O’Brien (DD 415) reaches Pará, Brazil, in the course of her shakedown cruise (see 12 July).
Coast Guard cutter Campbell arrives at Boston, Massachusetts, with U.S. Consul to Greenland James K. Penfield, Governor of North Greenland E. Brun, and a group of Danish officials to discuss commerce and trade of Greenland, due to the interruption of direct contact with Denmark, Greenland’s mother country.
10 Wednesday
Battle of Britain begins with first concentrated German air attacks on British convoys in the English Channel.
11 Thursday
William Franklin (Frank) Knox of Illinois, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, takes office as Secretary of the Navy. President Roosevelt’s choice of Knox, who had been the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee in the 1936 election, reflects the Chief Executive’s desire for bipartisan support of his policies.
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) depart Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil, for Santos, Brazil (see 13 July).
Captain Laurence Wild relieves Captain Edward W. Hanson as Governor of American Samoa and Commandant of Naval Station, Tutuila, Samoa.
12 Friday
Light cruiser Phoenix (CL 46) reaches Valparaiso, Chile, for a six-day visit “to cultivate friendly relations” (see 18 July).
Destroyer O’Brien (DD 415) departs Pará, Brazil, for La Guaira, Venezuela (see 16 July).
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) reach Pará, Brazil, en route to Rio de Janeiro. Both destroyers are transporting marines to join the detachments in heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) and Quincy (CA 39).
U.S. passenger liner Manhattan departs Lisbon, Portugal, with approximately 800 American citizens and their families.
13 Saturday
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) reach Santos, Brazil (see 18 July).
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) depart Pará, Brazil, for Rio de Janeiro.
15 Monday
Light cruiser Trenton (CL 11) sails from Lisbon with members of the royal family of the Duchy of Luxembourg embarked (see 25 July).
16 Tuesday
Destroyer O’Brien (DD 415) arrives at La Guaira, Venezuela, completing her shakedown cruise to Latin American waters.
18 Thursday
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) depart Santos, Brazil, to pay a return call at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (see 19 July).
Light cruiser Phoenix (CL 46) departs Valparaiso, Chile, for Callao, Peru (see 22 July).
19 Friday
President Roosevelt signs Naval Expansion (“Two-Ocean Navy”) Act providing, among other things, for 1,325,000 tons of combatant shipping, 100,000 tons of auxiliary shipping, and 15,000 aircraft; this legislation will expand the fleet 70 percent.
William Franklin (Frank) Knox, former “Rough Rider,” takes oath of office as Secretary of the Navy as President Roosevelt looks on, 11 July 1940. (NHC, NH 56976)
Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25), with President Roosevelt embarked, departs Washington Navy Yard for a cruise in Chesapeake Bay, accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG 26) (see 21 July).
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) reach Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) arrive the same day and transfer their marine passengers; Walke’s to Wichita and Wainwright’s to Quincy.
20 Saturday
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) depart Rio de Janeiro for Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil (see 23 July).
21 Sunday
Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25), with President Roosevelt embarked, returns to Washington Navy Yard after a cruise in Chesapeake Bay, accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG 26).
22 Monday
Light cruiser Phoenix (CL 46) reaches Callao, Peru (see 26 July).
23 Tuesday
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) reach Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil (see 29 July).
25 Thursday
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) depart Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for Bahia, Brazil (see 31 July).
Light cruiser Trenton (CL 11) arrives at Annapolis, Maryland, and disembarks members of the royal family of the Duchy of Luxembourg.
26 Friday
President Roosevelt invokes Export Control Act and prohibits exportation, without license, of aviation gasoline and certain classes of iron and steel scrap; this legislation halts flow of those important commodities to Japan.
Light cruiser Phoenix (CL 46) departs Callao, Peru, concluding her goodwill cruise to Chilean and Peruvian waters. She reaches Balboa, C.Z., on 30 July, and returns to the fleet at San Pedro, California, on 7 August.
27 Saturday
Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25), with President Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy William Franklin (Frank) Knox, and House Naval Affairs Committee Chairman Carl Vinson embarked, departs Washington Navy Yard for Norfolk Navy Yard, accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG 26) (see 29 July).
President Roosevelt, his naval aide (Captain Daniel J. Callaghan) at his side, disembarks from presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25) to inspect work in progress, Norfolk Navy Yard, 29 July 1940. (NHC, NH 96322)
29 Monday
Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25), with President Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy William Franklin (Frank) Knox, and House Naval Affairs Committee Chairman Carl Vinson embarked, reaches Norfolk (Virginia) Navy Yard, accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG 26). Roosevelt and his guests inspect the yard and Naval Operating Base before reembarking in Potomac and traveling to Fortress Monroe, which the President inspects, as well as the USAAC Langley Field and the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company (see 30 July).
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) depart Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil, for Buenos Aires, Argentina (see 30 July).
30 Tuesday
Act of Havana, providing for the emergency establishment of a regime of provisional administration under specified conditions “when islands or regions in the Americas now under the possession of non-American nations are in danger of becoming the subject of barter of territory or change of sovereignty” is signed by 21 nations at the Conference of Foreign Ministers of the American Republics.
Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25), accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG 26), returns to Washington Navy Yard with President Roosevelt embarked.
Destroyers