The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
board light cruiser Trenton (CL 11), the squadron flagship, at Villefranche-sur-Mer, France. Squadron 40-T had been formed in 1936 to protect American lives and property during the Spanish Civil War; its ships operate directly under the control of the Chief of Naval Operations.
French authorities remove two seamen of German nationality from U.S. freighter Exochorda at Marseilles, France.
British Northern Patrol (7th and 12th Cruiser Squadrons) commences operation between Shetland and Faeroe Islands and Iceland. Light cruisers HMS Caledon, HMS Calypso, HMS Diomede, HMS Dragon, HMS Effingham, HMS Emerald, HMS Cardiff, and HMS Dunedin are the ships that undertake this work. The patrol stops 108 merchantmen over the next three weeks, ordering 28 into the port of Kirkwall, Orkneys, to have their cargoes inspected.
7 Thursday
Cruiser Division 7 (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) sails to establish patrol off the eastern seaboard between Newport, Rhode Island, and Norfolk, Virginia. Heavy cruisers Quincy (CA 39) and Vincennes (CA 44) depart first, San Francisco (CA 38) (flagship) and Tuscaloosa (CA 37) follow. The ships, burning running lights, are to observe and report the movements of foreign men-of-war, and, as required, render prompt assistance to ships or planes encountered.
British steamer Olivegrove is stopped, torpedoed, and sunk by German submarine U 33, 200 miles northwest of Spain, 49°05′N, 15°58′W; upon receiving Olivegrove’s distress signal, U.S. passenger liner Washington, en route to the British Isles to evacuate American citizens from the European war zone, alters course and increases speed to reach the scene. Meanwhile, U 33’s commanding officer, Kapitänleutnant Hans-Wilhelm von Dresky, treats the British survivors courteously, and aids in their rescue by having distress rockets fired to guide Washington to the two lifeboats containing the 33-man crew, which she picks up without loss.
U.S. freighter Lehigh, detained by British authorities since 5 September, is released; freighter Warrior is detained by the British (see 18 September).
U.S. passenger liner Santa Paula is hailed by British cruiser (unidentified) 30 miles off Curaçao, N.W.I., and ordered to stop; after a delay of 20 minutes, Santa Paula is allowed to proceed (see 8 September). Tanker I. C. White is challenged by cruiser (nationality unidentified) 15 miles off Baranquilla, Colombia, but is allowed to proceed without further hindrance.
Incident to the European war, the U.S. Naval Observatory is closed to all visitors except those specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Navy.
Light cruiser Trenton (CL 11), seen here at Madeira circa 1939, served as flagship for Squadron 40-T into 1940. (Author’s Collection)
8 Friday
President Roosevelt proclaims a “limited national emergency” and orders enlisted strength of all armed forces increased—naval enlisted men from 110,813 to 145,000; Marine Corps from 18,325 to 25,000—and authorizes recall to active duty of officers, men, and nurses on retired lists of Navy and Marine Corps.
Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles and British Ambassador to the U.S. Lord Lothian have “off-the-record talk” (at the former’s request) concerning the brief detention of U.S. passenger liner Santa Paula the day before. Lord Lothian is informed that Santa Paula’s captain had been asked “to give formal assurances whether there were any German passengers on board, the implication being that if the captain had not given such assurances, the officers of the cruiser would have boarded [Santa Paula] to search for German passengers and possibly might have taken some off.” Undersecretary Welles goes on to say that “any act by British cruisers affecting American ships in waters so close to the United States involving possible boarding of them and taking off of civilian passengers would create a very highly unfortunate impression upon American public opinion at this time and was something undesirable in itself, since if civilian passengers actually had been taken off, such act would be clearly counter to international law.” Lord Lothian agrees and promises to “take the necessary steps to prevent occurrences of this kind from happening.”
Allies announce a long-range blockade of Germany (see 11 September).
Cargo (phosphates and cotton) is unloaded from U.S. freighter Saccarappa, detained since 3 September by British authorities; after the items deemed contraband are unloaded, the ship is released to continue on her voyage.
9 Saturday
U.S. freighter Wacosta, bound from Glasgow, Scotland, to New York, is stopped by German submarine (unidentified). Wacosta is detained for three hours while the Germans examine her papers and search her holds, but is permitted to proceed.
U.S. steamship President Harding is detained by French authorities and various items of her cargo (including 135 tons of copper and 34 tons of petroleum products) are seized as contraband. The ship is released promptly.
10 Sunday
Canada declares war on Germany.
U.S. freighter Hybert is detained for two hours by a U-boat (unidentified); Hybert is released, but the Germans warn the merchantman not to use her radio for 24 hours.
11 Monday
Germany announces counterblockade of Allies.
Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), former Chief of Naval Operations (1937–1939), takes office as Governor of Puerto Rico.
Navy charters barkentine Bear of Oakland for operations in the U.S. Antarctic Service and commissions her as auxiliary Bear (AG 29).3 The expedition will be under the command of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, USN (Retired). (Byrd was appointed commanding officer of the expedition on 13 July 1939.) Civilian sources provide scientific staff and dog drivers; sailors, marines, and soldiers perform the supporting aviation, radio, photography, commissary, carpentry, and mechanical duties, as well as operate tractors and light tanks and the Armour Institute of Technology’s Snow Cruiser, the unique vehicle developed for polar exploration (see 22 November).
U.S. tanker R. G. Stewart is stopped by shot fired across her bow by German submarine U 38 about 253 miles west of Ushant, France, 48°17′N, 11°16′W. Soon thereafter U 38 shells, torpedoes, and sinks British motor tanker Inverliffey; R. G. Stewart rescues the tanker’s crew and later transfers them to U.S. freighter City of Joliet for transportation to Antwerp, Belgium.
German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee provisions from tanker Altmark; security measure of launching the warship’s AR 196 pays dividends, as British heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland is spotted closing the area. Admiral Graf Spee and her consort alter course and are thus not sighted.
12 Tuesday
USAAC 21st Reconnaissance Squadron (B-18s) (Major Howard Craig, USAAC) reports to Commander Atlantic Squadron for duty in connection with the Neutrality Patrol, based at Miami, Florida.
Instructions to Neutrality Patrol are modified to include covering the approaches to the Gulf of Mexico through the Yucatan Channel and the Straits of Florida.
U.S. freighter Black Eagle is detained by British authorities at the Downs, the roadstead in the English Channel off the coast of Kent (see 19 September).
13 Wednesday
Submarine Squalus (SS 192), which had accidentally sunk off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 23 May during a scheduled test dive (of her 59-man crew, 26 men perish and 33 are rescued by McCann Rescue Chamber), arrives under tow at Portsmouth Navy Yard for extensive repairs.4
U.S. freighter Sea Arrow is launched at Oakland, California, the first major ocean-going vessel of that type completed on the west coast since World War I.5
U.S. freighter Black Osprey, detained at Weymouth, England, by British authorities since 5 September,