The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
Lothian’s passing. “I am very certain,” Roosevelt informs the King, “that if he had been allowed by Providence to leave us a last message he would have told us that the greatest of all efforts to retain democracy in the world must and will succeed.”
15 Sunday
Headquarters, Eighth Naval District, is closed at Charleston, South Carolina, and established at New Orleans, Louisiana; Captain Thaddeus A. Thomson Jr. is Acting Commandant.
16 Monday
Patrol Wing 10 is formed in Asiatic Fleet organization.
Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA 28) departs Rio de Janeiro for Bahia, Brazil, as she continues her goodwill cruise in Latin American waters (see 18 December).
17 Tuesday
Rear Admiral Ernest J. King relieves Rear Admiral Hayne Ellis as Commander Patrol Force U.S. Fleet on board battleship Texas (BB 35).
18 Wednesday
Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA 28) arrives at Bahia, Brazil, as she continues to “show the flag” in Latin American waters (see 5 January 1941).
19 Thursday
Palmyra Island in the Central Pacific is placed under control of Secretary of the Navy.
20 Friday
President Roosevelt names a four-man defense board, to be headed by industrialist William S. Knudsen, to prepare defense measures and expedite aid to Great Britain.
23 Monday
Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), newly appointed Ambassador to Vichy France, accompanied by his wife Louise, embarks in heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA 37) at Norfolk, Virginia, for the transatlantic passage to take up his diplomatic post “at a very critical time in the relations between the United States and France.” Destroyers Madison (DD 425) and Upshur (DD 144) escort Tuscaloosa on the initial stage of her voyage (see 30 December).
Naval Air Station, Key West, Florida, is established.
27 Friday
Captain Eugene T. Oates assumes temporary duty as Commandant Sixteenth Naval District and Commandant Cavite Navy Yard (see 11 January 1941).
30 Monday
Heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA 37) arrives at Lisbon, Portugal, and disembarks Admiral and Mrs. Leahy, who will then proceed to Vichy via Madrid and Barcelona, Spain, and Montpellier, France (see 3 and 8 January 1941).
JANUARY
3 Friday
Heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA 37) departs Lisbon, Portugal, for Norfolk, Virginia, having transported Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), U.S. Ambassador to France, on the transatlantic leg of his journey to his diplomatic post (see 8 January).
5 Sunday
Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA 28) arrives at Simonstown, South Africa (see 6 January).
6 Monday
Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA 28) departs Simonstown, South Africa, for New York, having taken on board $148,342,212.55 in British gold for deposit in American banks (see 22 January).
7 Tuesday
Office of Production Management is established under industrialist William S. Knudsen, labor leader Sidney Hillman, Secretary of the Navy William Franklin (Frank) Knox, and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.
8 Wednesday
Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), presents his credentials as Ambassador to France at Vichy.
9 Thursday
Transport William Ward Burrows (AP 6) arrives at Wake Island with first increment of workmen (Contractors Pacific Naval Air Bases) to begin building a naval air station there.
10 Friday
Auxiliary Bear (AG 29) returns to Bay of Whales, Antarctica, to evacuate West Base; the evacuation is under the supervision of Commander Richard H. Cruzen, second-in-command of the U.S. Antarctic Service (see 24 January).
Operation EXCESS: British covering force for Malta-bound convoy comes under attack from German JU 87s in the Sicilian narrows. Carrier HMS Illustrious is badly damaged by bombs; Lieutenant Commander Kenneth P. Hartman, U.S. naval observer on board Illustrious, distinguishes himself in helping to fight fires and care for wounded men. He will later be commended for gallantry.
11 Saturday
Rear Admiral Harold M. Bemis relieves Captain Eugene T. Oates as Commandant Sixteenth Naval District and Commandant Navy Yard, Cavite, P.I. Captain Oates had been acting commandant since the incapacitation of Rear Admiral John M. Smeallie in December 1940.
16 Thursday
President Roosevelt asks Congress for immediate appropriation of $350 million for 200 new merchant ships.
17 Friday
Rear Admiral Thomas Withers relieves Rear Admiral Wilhelm L. Friedell as Commander Submarines Scouting Force on board light cruiser Richmond (CL 9) (force flagship) at Pearl Harbor, T.H.
Battle of Koh Chang: Vichy French retaliate against Thai moves against Cambodia. French squadron (Rear Admiral Jules Terraux), consisting of light cruiser Lamotte-Picquet, colonial sloops Amiral Charner and Dumont D’Urville, and sloops Tahure and Marne, decisively defeats a Thai Navy force in a surface gunnery and torpedo action fought in the Gulf of Siam, sinking coast defense ship Dhonburi and torpedo boats Cholbury and Songkhla and damaging coast defense ship Sri Ayuthia and torpedo boat Trat in about two hours. Lamotte-Picquet suffers damage from own gun blast (see 23 January).
18 Saturday
German Consul General in San Francisco, California, displays the prescribed German Reich flag from the consular office in recognition of German national holiday. At noon this day the flag is taken down in the presence of what is described as “a large shouting throng of people” and torn to pieces. German Chargé d’Affaires Hans Thomsen makes “most emphatic protest” over the incident (see 19 January and 25 May).
19 Sunday
Secretary of State Cordell Hull responds to German Chargé d’Affaires Hans Thomsen’s protest over the incident concerning the tearing down of the Reich flag over the consulate in San Francisco the previous day, promising a full investigation (see 25 May).
22 Wednesday
Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA 28) arrives at New York with $148,342,212.55 in British gold brought from Simonstown, South Africa, to be deposited in American banks.
23 Thursday
“S” operation: Japanese heavy cruisers Suzuya, Mikuma, Mogami, and Kumano depart Kure, Japan. Their voyage to Indochina waters is part of pressure brought to bear upon the Vichy French colonial government in the wake of the Battle of Koh Chang (see 28 January and 10 and 13 February).
24 Friday
Interior Department motorship North Star arrives at Bay of Whales, Antarctica, to take part in evacuating West Base of U.S. Antarctic Service (see 31 January).
25 Saturday
Keel of battleship Wisconsin (BB 64) is laid at the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Navy Yard. She will be the last battleship ever built by the U.S. Navy.
Auxiliary Bear (AG 29) (right) lies moored at Bay of Whales, during preparations (10–31 January 1941) to evacuate the U.S. Antarctic Service’s West Base, while civilian dog driver Jack Bursey pauses in his labors (left). (NHC, NR&L(M)-25691)
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