The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
of the postwar world. The Atlantic Charter, the joint declaration that results from the meetings, outlines goals in the war against Germany and emphasizes the principles of freedom, self-determination, peace, and cooperation. Roosevelt privately reassures Churchill that when the United States enters the war, it would accord the defeat of Germany first priority. He also pledges that U.S. warships would escort British merchant ships between the United States and Iceland. After the last meeting, Prime Minister Churchill embarks in battleship HMS Prince of Wales and departs Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. Soon thereafter, Augusta, accompanied by the same ships that had steamed with her to Newfoundland, sails for Blue Hill Bay, Maine, to rendezvous with presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25) and auxiliary Calypso (AG 35).
Maneuvers at New River, North Carolina, conclude.
13 Wednesday
PACIFIC. Heavy cruisers Northampton (CA 26) and Salt Lake City (CA 25), arrive at Port Moresby, Papua, Australian Territory of New Guinea, for a goodwill visit.
14 Thursday
ATLANTIC. President Roosevelt, on board heavy cruiser Augusta (CA 31), returning from the Atlantic Charter Conference, witnesses exhibition of flight operations by aircraft escort vessel Long Island (AVG 1) off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia. Roosevelt had been instrumental in championing conversion of merchant vessels to auxiliary aircraft carriers. Long Island’s embarked scouting squadron (VS 201) is equipped with F2As and SOCs. That afternoon, Augusta reaches Blue Hill Bay, Maine, where the Chief Executive reembarks in presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25).
Submarine chaser PC 457 is accidentally sunk in collision with U.S. freighter Norluna off Puerto Rico.
PACIFIC. During Japanese bombing raid on Chungking, China, Japanese planes approach the city from the east, passing directly over the U.S. Embassy chancery and the river gunboat Tutuila (PR 4). There is no repetition of the incident of 30 July.
15 Friday
PACIFIC. Naval Air Station, Palmyra Island, and Naval Air Facility, Johnston Island, are established.
ATLANTIC. TG 2.5, comprising carrier York-town (CV 5) (VF 42, VS 41, and VT 5), light cruiser Brooklyn (CL 40), and destroyers Roe (DD 418), Grayson (DD 435), and Eberle (DD 430), departs Bermuda to begin 4,064-mile neutrality patrol that will conclude at Bermuda on 27 August.
President Roosevelt fishes (with “indifferent luck”) off Deer Island from presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25); the ship anchors in Pulpit Harbor, Penobscot Bay, Maine, for the night.
President Roosevelt bids farewell to Prime Minister Churchill after their final meeting on board heavy cruiser Augusta (CA 31), Argentia, Newfoundland, 12 August 1941. Roosevelt’s sons, Franklin Jr. and Elliott, flank their father. (Author’s Collection)
16 Saturday
ATLANTIC. Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25) reaches Rockland, Maine, and disembarks President Roosevelt and his party. The Chief Executive returns by train to Washington, D.C., the following morning.
PACIFIC. Heavy cruisers Northampton (CA 26) and Salt Lake City (CA 25) arrive at Rabaul, New Britain, British New Guinea, for a goodwill visit.
17 Sunday
UNITED STATES. President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull confer with Japanese Ambassador Nomura Kichasaburo and state conditions for resuming conversations or arranging a Pacific conference.
ATLANTIC. Panamanian (ex-Danish) freighter Sessa is torpedoed and sunk about 300 miles southwest of Iceland, 61°26′N, 30°50′W (see 6 September).31
18 Monday
UNITED STATES. President Roosevelt announces that the United States is ferrying combat aircraft to the British in the Near East via Brazil and Africa.
19 Tuesday
PACIFIC. Wake Detachment, First Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force (Major Lewis A. Hohn, USMC) arrives at Wake Island in cargo ship Regulus (AK 14) to begin work on defense installations.
22 Friday
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Hughes (DD 410) is damaged when accidentally rammed by British freighter Chulmleigh at Reykjavik, Iceland.
25 Monday
GENERAL. British and Soviet forces invade Iran from the south and north, respectively.
ATLANTIC. TG 2.6 (Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt), comprising Wasp (CV 7), light cruiser Savannah (CL 42), and destroyers Meredith (DD 434) and Gwin (DD 433), departs Hampton Roads, Virginia, on a neutrality patrol that will conclude at Bermuda on 10 September.
26 Tuesday
UNITED STATES. Ship Warrants Act is invoked by executive order, empowering President Roosevelt to direct Maritime Commission to establish cargo handling, ship repair, and maintenance priorities for merchant ships.
27 Wednesday
PACIFIC. Japan protests shipment of U.S. goods to Vladivostok, Soviet Far East, through Japanese waters.
ATLANTIC. German submarine U 570, attacked by an RAF Hudson (No. 269 Squadron), is captured intact by British surface force in the North Atlantic.32
28 Thursday
GENERAL. Supply, Priorities, and Allocations Board is established.
Hostilities in Iran cease.
ATLANTIC. TG 2.7, comprising aircraft escort vessel Long Island (AVG 1), light cruiser Nashville (CL 43), and destroyers Livermore (DD 429) and Kearny (DD 432), departs Bermuda. It will conclude the patrol—the first involving the prototype “escort carrier”—at Bermuda on 9 September.
SEPTEMBER
1 Monday
ATLANTIC. Navy assumes responsibility for transatlantic convoys from point off Argentia, Newfoundland, to meridian of Iceland. Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet (Admiral Ernest J. King) designates Denmark Strait Patrol to operate between Iceland and Greenland.
PACIFIC. U.S. Consul General in Shanghai, China (Clarence Gauss), Commander Yangtze Patrol (Rear Admiral William A. Glassford Jr.), and Commanding Officer Fourth Marine Regiment (Colonel Samuel L. Howard, USMC) recommend that all naval forces in China (river gunboats and marines) be withdrawn.
4 Thursday
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Greer (DD 145), while tracking German submarine U 652, 175 miles southwest of Iceland, is attacked but not damaged. Soon thereafter, Greer damages the U-boat with depth charges (see 11 September).
6 Saturday
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Lansdale (DD 426) rescues only three survivors from Panamanian freighter Sessa, sunk on 17 August; 24 crewmen (one of whom is an American) perish.
7 Sunday
GULF OF SUEZ. Unarmed U.S. freighter Steel Seafarer (carrying cargo earmarked for the British Army in Egypt) is bombed and sunk by German plane (identified as a JU 88) off the Shadwan Islands; her 36-man crew is rescued unharmed.
Grumman F4F-3s from VF 41, Beaumont, Texas, during Army GHQ maneuvers, September 1941. Color scheme is overall light gray with low-contrast white markings (plane in foreground is 41-F-3); white crosses are temporary markings applied to planes assigned to one of the “warring” forces. (Author’s Collection)
9 Tuesday
UNITED STATES. Naval Coastal Frontier Forces are formed.
11 Thursday
ATLANTIC. President Roosevelt,