The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
on board submarine Triton (SS 201), over last known location of the lost boat.
24 Tuesday
UNITED STATES. German Chargé d’Affaires Hans Thomsen replies to Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles’s 20 June note concerning the Robin Moor sinking. “I have the honor to advise you,” Thomsen writes, “that I do not find myself in a position to pass on . . . the text of a message to Congress from the President of the United States for the information of my government” (see 19 and 26 September and 3 November).
25 Wednesday
EUROPE. Finland declares war on the Soviet Union.
ATLANTIC. TG 2.7, comprising light cruisers Philadelphia (CL 41) and Savannah (CL 42) and destroyers Lang (DD 399) and Wilson (DD 408), departs Hampton Roads, Virginia, for a 4,762-mile neutrality patrol that will conclude on 8 July at Bermuda.
27 Friday
EUROPE. Hungary declares war on the Soviet Union.
ATLANTIC. During German submarine attacks on convoy HX 133, Dutch steamship Maasdam is torpedoed and sunk by U 564 approximately 300 miles south of Iceland; among the survivors are marines under Major Walter L. Jordan, USMC, the advance detail for the Marine Detachment at the American Embassy in London.
28 Saturday
EUROPE. Albania declares war on the Soviet Union.
UNITED STATES. President Roosevelt issues executive order creating the Office of Scientific Research and Development (Dr. Vannevar Bush, chairman) that will replace the National Defense Research Committee. The new office will coordinate and supplement scientific research relating to the defense effort.
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Madison (DD 425) is damaged when she runs aground on the southeast tip of Moratties Shoal, Placentia Harbor, Argentia, Newfoundland.
29 Sunday
ATLANTIC. TG 2.8, comprising carrier York-town (CV 5) (VF 42, VS 42, VMO 1, and half of VMS 1), heavy cruisers Quincy (CA 39) and Vincennes (CA 44), and destroyers Wainwright (DD 419), Hammann (DD 412), Mustin (DD 413), and Stack (DD 406), departs Hampton Roads, Virginia, for neutrality patrol. Yorktown, accompanied by Wainwright and Stack, departs the patrol on 10 July, returning to Hampton Roads on the 12th; Quincy, Vincennes, Hammann, and Mustin continue the cruise, putting in to Bermuda on 15 July.
30 Monday
UNITED STATES. Naval vessels on hand (all types)—1,899. Personnel: Navy—284,427; Marine Corps—54,359; Coast Guard—19,235. Total personnel—358,021.
EUROPE. Vichy France severs relations with the Soviet Union.
JULY
1 Tuesday
UNITED STATES. Naval Coastal Frontiers are established: North Atlantic, Southern, Caribbean, Panama, Pacific Southern, Pacific Northern, Hawaiian, and Philippine. Their commanders are responsible for the direction of local patrol, convoy escort, and antisubmarine warfare operations. Mobilization of all organized, fleet, and local defense divisions of the Naval Reserve is completed on this date.
ATLANTIC. Task forces are organized by Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet (Admiral Ernest J. King) to support defense of Iceland and to escort convoys between the United States and Iceland: TF 1 (Rear Admiral David M. LeBreton) based at Narragansett Bay and Boston; TF 2 (Rear Admiral Arthur B. Cook) based at Bermuda and Hampton Roads, Virginia; TF 3 (Rear Admiral Jonas H. Ingram) based at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Guantánamo; TF 4 (Rear Admiral Arthur L. Bristol) based at Narragansett Bay; TF 5 (Rear Admiral Richard S. Edwards), TF 6 and TF 8 (Rear Admiral Edward D. McWhorter), and TF 7 (Rear Admiral Ferdinand L. Reichmuth) based at Bermuda; TF 9 (Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs); and TF 10 (Major General Holland M. Smith, USMC).
Patrol Wing 7 (the redesignated Patrol Wing Support Force) (Captain Harold M. Mullinix) (TG 4.2) is established at Argentia, Newfoundland, for operations in North Atlantic.
Northeast Greenland Patrol (Commander Edward H. “Iceberg” Smith, USCG) (TG 6.5) is organized at Boston, Massachusetts, by the Coast Guard; it consists of cutters Northland and North Star, and auxiliary Bear (AG 29).
Destroyer Anderson (DD 411), as seen from carrier Wasp (CV 7), 29 June 1941, still wears a peacetime navy gray paint scheme; prominent white/black-shadow hull numbers, as well as the ship’s name, however, were painted out during her recent passage through the Panama Canal. (NA, 80-CF-2156–1)
2 Wednesday
PACIFIC. Japan recalls its merchant ships from Atlantic Ocean and calls up more than one million army conscripts.
4 Friday
ATLANTIC. PBYs (VP 72) begin operations based in seaplane tender (destroyer) Goldsborough (AVD 5), out of Reykjavik, Iceland, covering the movement of marines to Iceland (see 17 July).
5 Saturday
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Charles F. Hughes (DD 428) rescues 14 survivors (including four American Red Cross nurses) from the sunken Norwegian steamship Vigrid, which had been torpedoed while straggling from convoy HX 133 by German submarine U 371 on 24 June, at 58°58′N, 36°35′W.29
6 Sunday
ATLANTIC. Transport Munargo (AP 20) and U.S. Army transport Chateau Thierry arrive at Tunugdliarfik Fjord, Greenland, to disembark men and unload equipment to establish an air base there.
7 Monday
ATLANTIC. President Roosevelt announces to Congress that an executive agreement has been made with Iceland for U.S. troops to occupy that country; the Navy is ordered to take all steps necessary to maintain communications between the United States and Iceland. TF 19 (Rear Admiral David M. LeBreton) lands First Marine Brigade (Provisional) (Brigadier General John Marston, USMC) at Reykjavik, the Icelandic capital. The replacement of the British garrison frees those troops for combat duty elsewhere.
First Marine Aircraft Wing (Lieutenant Colonel Louis E. Woods, USMC) is established at Quantico, Virginia.
8 Tuesday
ATLANTIC. Patrol Wing 8 (Commander John D. Price) is established at Norfolk, Virginia.
10 Thursday
PACIFIC. Second Marine Aircraft Wing (Brigadier General Ross E. Rowell, USMC) is established at San Diego, California.
12 Saturday
UNITED STATES. Office of the Coordinator of Research and Development is established to unify the Navy’s research activities and to evaluate the best ways of advising tactical officers of air, ground, and sea forces of the “latest applications of science to the problems of modern warfare.”
ATLANTIC. Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island, is established.
15 Tuesday
ATLANTIC. Naval Air Station and Naval Operating Base, Argentia, Newfoundland, are established.
16 Wednesday
ATLANTIC. Transport West Point (AP 23) (former U.S. passenger liner America) sails from New York City with German and Italian consular officials and their families, bound for Lisbon, Portugal. British government has granted West Point safe-conduct for the voyage (see 24 and 26 July and 1 August).
TG 2.7, comprising light cruisers Philadelphia (CL 41) and Savannah (CL 42) and destroyers Meredith (DD 434) and Gwin (DD 433), departs Bermuda for 3,415-mile neutrality patrol that will conclude there on 25 July.
17 Thursday
ATLANTIC. VP 72 concludes its operations out of Reykjavik, Iceland, from seaplane tender (destroyer) Goldsborough (AVD 5).
18 Friday
PACIFIC.