The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
detained by the British since 6 October, is released.
German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee transfers crew of British freighter Huntsman to tanker Altmark; Huntsman is then sunk with demolition charges at 16°00′S, 17°00′W.
18 Wednesday
Naval landing force from gunboats Asheville (PG 21) and Tulsa (PG 22) and destroyer Whipple (DD 217) is withdrawn from Kulangsu, China, where it had been protecting the American Consulate and the Hope Memorial Hospital since 17 May.
U.S. freighter West Hobomac is detained by British authorities (see 25 October).
German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee transfers crews of British freighters Newton Beech and Ashlea to tanker Altmark. The two German ships then part company for a time (see 28 October).
19 Thursday
Gunboat Erie (PG 50) arrives off Manzanillo, Mexico, on neutrality patrol; she will monitor movements of German freighter Havelland until 11 December. Commander Special Service Squadron (Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox Jr.) commends the gunboat’s work as “the outstanding event” of offshore patrol work conducted by the squadron.
20 Friday
Commander Atlantic Squadron informs his ships to use plain-language radio reporting of contacts.
U.S. freighter Scanstates, detained at Kirkwall, Orkneys, by British authorities since 14 October, is released.
21 Saturday
U.S. freighter City of Flint, under prize crew from German armored ship Deutschland since 9 October, puts in to Tromsö, Norway, for water. Norwegian government, however, orders the ship to leave; she sails for Soviet waters (see 23, 24, 27, and 28 October and 3 November).
U.S. freighter Meanticut is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities and ordered to proceed to Oran, Algeria, to discharge certain cargo earmarked for delivery to Italy (see 27 October).
U.S. freighter Cranford, detained by British authorities since 17 October, is released.
22 Sunday
U.S. freighters Endicott and West Gambo are detained by French authorities and portions of their cargo ordered ashore as contraband: 750 bales of carbon black from West Gambo and 2,276 bars of copper and 1,796 bags of carbon black from Endicott (see 2 November).
U.S. steamship President Hayes is detained by British naval authorities at Alexandria, Egypt, and searched for contraband (see 23 October); freighter Patrick Henry, detained by the British since 10 October, is released.
German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee stops British freighter Trevanion, embarks her crew, and sinks the ship at 19°40′S, 04°02′W.
23 Monday
U.S. freighter City of Flint arrives at Murmansk, Russia (see 24, 27, and 28 October and 3 November).
U.S. freighter Tulsa is detained at London by British authorities (see 9 November).
U.S. steamship President Hayes, detained by British naval authorities at Alexandria, Egypt, the previous day, is released, but not before a consignment of rubber earmarked for delivery to Genoa, Italy, is unloaded.10
24 Tuesday
British light cruiser HMS Orion and Canadian destroyer HMCS Saguenay locate German tanker Emmy Friedrich in the Yucatan Channel; British light cruiser HMS Caradoc subsequently intercepts Emmy Friedrich, whose crew scuttles her to avoid capture.
British steamships Menin Ridge and Ledbury are attacked and sunk by German submarine U 37 (torpedoes and gunfire, respectively) at 36°01′N, 07°22′W. U.S. freighter Crown City rescues the only five survivors from the 27-man crew of Menin Ridge and Ledbury’s entire 33-man crew.
Soviet authorities intern U.S. freighter City of Flint’s German prize crew from armored ship Deutschland at Murmansk (see 27 and 28 October and 3 November).
U.S. freighter Wacosta is detained by British authorities (see 8 November); freighter Iberville, detained by the British since 13 October, is released after cargo due to be discharged at Antwerp and Rotterdam, Holland, is seized as contraband. British authorities at Kirkwall remove 468 bags of U.S. mail destined for Gothenborg, Sweden, and 18 for Helsinki, Finland, from Finnish freighter Astrid Thorden.
25 Wednesday
U.S. freighter Sundance, detained at London, England, by British authorities since 11 October, is released; freighter West Hobomac, detained by the British since 18 October, is released.
U.S. freighter Nashaba, detained at Le Havre by French authorities since 14 October, is released.
26 Thursday
U.S. freighter Black Eagle is detained by British authorities (see 5 November).
U.S. Consul at Gibraltar William E. Chapman confers informally with British naval authorities there concerning protracted delays in detention of American merchantmen (see 27 October).
27 Friday
U.S. freighter City of Flint is again placed under German naval prize crew from armored ship Deutschland (see 28 October and 3 November).
U.S. Consul at Gibraltar William E. Chapman meets informally with British Colonial Secretary there, and objects to protracted delay in detention of U.S. merchantmen, especially freighter Exporter, which has on board diplomatic pouches bound for Athens, Greece. Consul Chapman’s low-key approach bears fruit. Exporter, detained since 14 October, is released later that day, as are freighters Oakman (detained since 13 October) and Meanticut (detained since 21 October).
28 Saturday
U.S. freighter City of Flint, again under German control, sails from Murmansk for Norwegian waters. At no time during City of Flint’s enforced stay at Murmansk has the ship’s master, Captain Joseph A. Gainard (an inactive USNR officer), been allowed to communicate with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow (see 3 November).
U.S. freighter Black Tern, detained at Weymouth, England, by British authorities since 11 October, is released.
German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee makes rendezvous with tanker Altmark near Tristan de Cunha, South Atlantic Ocean. The warship refuels from the auxiliary, and transfers British freighter Trevanion’s crew to her.
30 Monday
U.S. freighter Scanpenn is detained by British authorities at Kirkwall, Orkneys; freighter Hybert is detained by British authorities at the Downs the same day (see 11 November and 5 November, respectively).
31 Tuesday
U.S. freighter Black Osprey is detained at the Downs by British authorities; freighter Gateway City, detained by the British since 16 October, is released after cargo billed for delivery at Antwerp and Rotterdam, Holland, is seized as contraband.
NOVEMBER
1 Wednesday
U.S. freighter Exminster is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities (see 6 November).
2 Thursday
U.S. freighters Endicott and West Gambo, detained by French authorities since 22 October and portions of their cargo ordered ashore as contraband, are released and clear Le Havre, France.
3 Friday
U.S. freighter City of Flint is restored to U.S. control at Haugesund, Norway (see 1 January 1940).
4 Saturday
Neutrality Act of 1939 becomes law. It repeals the arms embargo and substitutes a policy of “cash and carry,” prohibits U.S. vessels and citizens from entering combat zones,