US NAVY
German submarine U 30 arrives at
Wilhelmshaven, Germany, where her commanding officer, Kapitanleutnant Fritz-Julius
Lemp, informs Commander U-boats, in private, that he [Lemp] believes himself
responsible for sinking British passenger liner Athenia (see 8 November).
U.S. freighter Syros is detained by French authorities (see 10 October).
US NAVY
Rear
Admiral H. Kent Hewitt hauls down his flag as Commander Special Service
Squadron; gunboat Erie (PG‑50) is assigned to the Fifteenth Naval
District and sistership Charleston (PG‑51) to the Thirteenth.
Light
cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49), with Greenslade Board embarked,
departs Argentia for Boston (see 23 September).
US NAVY
President
Roosevelt asks for repeal of arms embargo provision of Neutrality Act of 1937
(see 4 November).
US NAVY
Third group of ships involved in the destroyers‑for‑ bases agreement‑‑Mackenzie (DD‑175), Haraden (DD‑183), Williams (DD‑108), Thatcher (DD‑162), McCook (DD‑252) and Bancroft (DD‑256) ‑‑arrive at Halifax, Nova Scotia (see 24 September).
US NAVY
Squadron 40-T departs Villefranche,
France; flagship, light cruiser Trenton (CL-11) (Rear Admiral Charles E.
Courtney) and destroyer Jacob Jones (DD-130) head for Lisbon, Portugal;
destroyer Badger (DD-126) for Marseilles, France (see 23 September).
U.S. freighters Ethan
Allen and Ipswich are detained by British authorities (see 30
September).
US NAVY
US ARMY AIR FORCE
US ARMY
US MARINE CORPS
US NAVY
Battleship
Oklahoma (BB‑37) collides with U.S. tug Goliath, Puget
Sound, Washington.
US NAVY
VP 21 (PBYs), assigned to the Asiatic Fleet to provide aerial reconnaissance capability to safeguard the neutrality of the Philippines, departs Pearl Harbor for Manila, P.I. The squadron will fly via Midway, Wake, and Guam (see 25 September). Seaplane tender (destroyer) Childs (AVD-1) will provide support at Wake, the least developed place on the movement westward.
U.S. freighter Black Hawk is detained by British
authorities (see 4 October); freighter Black Eagle, detained by the
British since 12 September at the Downs, is released.
US NAVY
Second
group of ships involved in the transfer to Britain‑‑Kalk (DD‑170),
Maddox (DD‑168), Cowell (DD‑167), Foote (DD‑169),
Hopewell (DD‑181), Abbot (DD‑184), Thomas (DD‑182)
and Doran (DD‑185) ‑‑ arrive at Halifax, Nova Scotia (see
23 September).
Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49), with Greenslade Board embarked, shifts from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Argentia (see 21 September).
US NAVY
President Roosevelt authorizes Coast Guard
to enlist 2,000 additional men and to build two training stations.
Heavy cruiser San
Francisco (CA-38) arrives at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and reports that
Dominican authorities are exercising proper precautions to learn promptly of
the entry of any belligerent warship into Semana Bay, Dominican Republic.
U.S. freighter Warrior,
detained by British authorities since 7 September, is released after her
cargo of phosphates is requisitioned. Freighter Shickshinny, detained
since 16 September at Glasgow, Scotland, is permitted to sail without unloading
cargo deemed by British authorities to be contraband. Shickshinny, however,
is to unload those items at Mersey, England.
U.S. freighter Eglantine is stopped by German submarine, ordered not to use her radio, and to send her papers to the U-boat for examination. The Germans allow Eglantine to proceed, but advise her not to use her radio for three hours.
US NAVY
Special Service Squadron (Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt), consisting of gunboats Erie (PG‑50) and Charleston (PG‑51) and destroyers J. Fred Talbott (DD‑156) and Tattnall (DD‑125), is disbanded.
US NAVY
USSR, its western border secure after its 23 August 1939 ceasefire with the Japanese along the Manchukuo-Mongolia frontier, invades eastern Poland. British use of Home Fleet aircraft carriers to hunt German submarines, begun on 3 September, ends after U 29torpedoes and sinks HMS Courageous southwest of the British Isles, 50°10'N, 14°45'W. Courageous is the first capital ship lost by any of the combatants. "A wonderful success," the German U-boat High Command War Diary exults, "and confirmation of the fact that the English defense forces are not as effective as they advertise themselves to be."
U.S. freighter Black Condor is detained by British authorities (see 24 September).
US NAVY
President
Roosevelt signs Selective Training and Service Act, thus establishing the first
peacetime draft in the history of the United States.
Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49), with Greenslade Board embarked, arrives at St. John's, Newfoundland (see 18September).
US NAVY
Naval Attaché in Berlin reports that Grossadmiral
Erich Raeder, Commander in Chief of the German Navy, has informed him that
all submarine commanders had reported negatively concerning the sinking of
British passenger liner Athenia (see 22 September and 8 November).
British Admiralty,
reflecting the need to protect the Atlantic lifeline necessary to Britain's
survival, announces establishment of convoy system for its merchant shipping;
first Halifax-United Kingdom convoy (HX 1) sails--eighteen ships escorted by
Canadian destroyers HMCS St. Laurence and HMCS Saguenay.
German submarine U
31 inaugurates U-boat campaign against convoys when she attacks westbound
convoy OB 4, torpedoing and sinking British merchant steamer Aviemore in
the North Atlantic, 49°11'N, 13°38'W.
U.S. freighter Shickshinny is detained at Glasgow, Scotland, by British authorities (see 18 September).
US NAVY
US ARMY AIR FORCE
FIFTEENTH AF—Fifteenth AF is inactivated in Italy.
US ARMY
US MARINE CORPS
US NAVY
Atlantic
Squadron Neutrality Patrol assets deployed this date: destroyers Davis (DD-395),
Jouett (DD-396), Benham(DD-397) and Ellet (DD-398) operate
between Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Placentia Bay, Newfoundland (Grand Banks
Patrol); destroyers Hamilton (DD-141) and Leary (DD-158) operate
off Georges Shoals; Goff (DD 247) and Hopkins(DD-249) and PBY-2s
(VP 54), supported by minesweeper [small seaplane tender] Owl (AM-2)
operate out of Narragansett Bay; destroyers Decatur (DD-341), Barry (DD-248),
Reuben James (DD-245) and auxiliary [high speed transport] Manley (AG-28),
with shore-based VP 52 and VP 53 (P2Y-2s) operate out of Chesapeake Bay; destroyers
Babbitt (DD-128) and Claxton (DD-140) patrol the Florida Straits;
heavy cruisers San Francisco (CA-38) and Tuscaloosa (CA-37),
destroyers Truxtun (DD-229), Simpson (DD-221), Broome (DD-220)
and Borie (DD-215) and patrol squadrons VP 33 (PBY-3s) and VP 51
(PBY-1s), supported by small seaplane tenders Lapwing (AVP-1), Thrush(AVP-3)
and Gannet (AVP-8) watch the Caribbean and the Atlantic side of the
Lesser Antilles; heavy cruisers Quincy(CA-39) and Vincennes (CA-44)
operate off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; held in reserve in Hampton Roads is a
striking force consisting of carrier Ranger (CV-4) (her embarked air
group consisting of squadrons VB 4, VF 4, VS 41and VS 42) and battleships New
York (BB-34) and Texas (BB-35). Arkansas (BB-33) and gunnery
training ship (ex-»battleship) Wyoming (AG-17) are carrying out training
cruise for USNR midshipmen. The destroyers find the going rough on the Grand
Banks; they will be replaced by 327-foot Coast Guard cutters that will be administratively
assigned to Destroyer Division 18.
U.S.
freighter City of Joliet is detained by French authorities and her cargo
examined (see 5 October).
US NAVY
Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49) departs Norfolk, with Greenslade Board embarked, bound for her ultimate destination on this leg of the voyage, St. John's, Newfoundland (see 16 September).
US NAVY
Germany announces counterblockade of Allies.
Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Ret.), 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). The U.S. Navy originally
acquires Bear, built in Scotland for the sealing trade, to rescue the
survivors of the ill-fated Greeley Arctic Expedition in 1884. The Navy
transfers the ship to the U.S. Treasury Department in 1885 for deployment in
the Revenue Cutter Service (later U.S. Coast Guard). In 1929, the Coast Guard
transfers her to private ownership. Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, USN (Ret.)
acquires Bear in 1932 for use in Antarctic exploration. (The expedition
will be under the command of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, USN (Ret.) (Byrd is
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.
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.
USAAC 21st
Reconnaissance Squadron (B-18s) (Major Howard Craig, USAAC) reports to
Commander Atlantic Squadron for duty in connection with the Neutrality Patrol.
It is 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).
US NAVY
—Operation MAGIC CARPET begins.
11 September to 31 December 1945—Between
the signing of the capitulation documents on board the battleship Missouri (BB‑63)
and the end of the year, Japanese garrisons on the Asiatic mainland and on by‑passed
islands scattered throughout the western Pacific surrender. Occupation of Japan
progresses and the administrative organization of the U.S. naval forces in the
area is adjusted where necessary to enable the Navy to carry out occupation and
demilitarization duties. Naval combat strength shrinks as demobilization
procedures are set in motion. On 10 October 1945 Headquarters of the Commander
in Chief U.S. Fleet (Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King) is disestablished.
US ARMY AIR FORCE
US ARMY
US MARINE CORPS
US NAVY
Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49) arrives at Norfolk, with Greenslade Board embarked (see 12 September).
US NAVY
Germany
warns that all ships in war zones prescribed by Axis are subject to attack
regardless of nationality.
First
eight destroyers are transferred to Britain under destroyers‑for‑bases
agreement at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Aaron Ward (DD‑132) becomes
HMS Castleton, Buchanan (DD‑131) becomes HMS Campbeltown,
Crowninshield (DD‑134) becomes HMS Chelsea, Hale (DD‑133)
becomes HMS Caldwell, Abel P. Upshur (DD‑193) becomes HMS Clare,
Welborn C. Wood (DD‑195) becomes HMS Chesterfield, Herndon (DD‑198)
becomes HMS Churchill, Welles (DD‑257) becomes HMS Cameron.
Navy
awards contracts for 210 new construction ships including 12 aircraft carriers
and 7 battleships.
Aircraft
carrier Yorktown (CV‑5) and submarine Shark (SS‑174)
are damaged in collision, Hawaiian Operating Area.
Secretary of the Navy Knox breaks his flag in carrier Enterprise (CV‑6) to observe operations; Enterprise is being used as fleet flagship for a trial period by Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet (Admiral J.O. Richardson). Knox will fly into Pearl Harbor in the Enterprise Air Group Commander's SBC to emphasize the rapid pace of modern naval operations.
US NAVY
Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49) departs Hamilton, Bermuda, for Norfolk, with Greenslade Board embarked (see 10September).
US MARINE CORPS
The President proclaims a "limited national
emergency". Marine Corps strength increased to 25,000 men.
US NAVY
US ARMY AIR FORCE
US ARMY
US MARINE CORPS
Gen Stilwell accepts the surrender of the Japanese Ryukyus
garrisons signifying the beginning of American political hegemony in Okinawa.
US NAVY
PACIFIC—Japanese surrender Maleolap Atoll in ceremony on
board destroyer escort Wingfield (DE‑194).
U.S.
troops begin return to United States as TF 11 (Vice Admiral Frederick C.
Sherman) sails from Tokyo Bay for the west coast.
US ARMY AIR FORCE
ELEVENTH AF—A radiogram from COMNORPAC officially cancels
all further missions.
US ARMY
US MARINE CORPS
Japanese surrender Rabaul to the Australians.
Disbandment of Fleet Landing Force. Marine component returns to duty as ships' detachments.
US NAVY
President
Roosevelt announces the "destroyers‑for‑bases"
agreement; Commander Destroyers, Atlantic Squadron (Captain Ferdinand L.
Reichmuth) is placed in charge of the transfer operation.
Light
cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49) sails from Norfolk, Virginia; embarked
is the board, headed by Rear Admiral John F. Greenslade, which will evaluate
base sites recently acquired from the British (see 5 September).
US NAVY
Secretary
of State Hull and British Ambassador Lord Lothian exchange notes concluding the
agreement to trade destroyers for bases; the U.S. will provide, by executive
agreement, 50 over‑age (World War I Emergency Program) destroyers in
return for 99‑year leases on bases in the Bahamas, Antigua, St. Lucia,
Trinidad, Jamaica, and British Guiana. The British provide bases at
Newfoundland and Bermuda as outright gifts.
US NAVY
Secretary
of the Navy Knox and Commander Aircraft Scouting Force depart San Francisco,
California, in XPB2Y‑2 for Pearl Harbor.
Light
cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49) arrives at Hamilton, Bermuda with
Greenslade Board embarked (see 8 September).
US NAVY
Destroyers
Aaron Ward (DD‑132), Buchanan (DD‑131), Crowninshield
(DD‑134), Hale (DD‑133), Abel P. Upshur (DD‑193),
Welborn C. Wood (DD‑195), Herndon (DD‑198) and Welles
(DD‑257) arrive at Halifax, Nova Scotia, along with destroyer Russell
(DD‑414), with Commander Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet (Captain
Ferdinand L. Reichmuth) embarked, and destroyer tender Denebola (AD‑12).
"By the long arm of coincidence" (as British Prime Minister Churchill
puts it) the Royal Navy crews assigned to man the ships arrive simultaneously
(see 9 September).
The
warm generosity with which the U.S. meets the British request for ships
contrasts markedly with the cold response to the Uruguayan government's request
to purchase three destroyers. U.S. Minister to Uruguay Edwin C. Wilson recounts
(2 October) an interview with "a leading Uruguayan" who complains:
"Having been exhorted to cooperate in continental defense, we want to
build up our pitifully non‑existent Navy, and we ask you to let us have
two or three old destroyers that have been lying useless in your ports since
the last war. You handed over fifty of these destroyers to Great Britain, and
we see pictures reproduced in the papers of quantities of these ships tied up
in your ports, looking like so many toy vessels in a shop window. Yet, you tell
us that you find it impossible to let us have even a single one of these."
Secretary of State Hull confidentially informs Minister Wilson (13 September)
that the Navy Department believes "that the strategic situation in the
North Atlantic does not permit the disposal of any destroyers to Uruguay at the
present time, the more so as this would inevitably lead to similar requests
from other American republics for [the] purchase of destroyers."
Secretary
of the Navy Knox and Commander Aircraft, Scouting Force arrive at Pearl Harbor,
T.H., in XPB2Y‑2. The Secretary is visiting the fleet as it carries out
operations in Hawaiian waters (see 9 September).
US NAVY
British passenger liner Athenia sinks
as the result of damage sustained the previous day when torpedoed by German
submarine U 30. After the sinking of Athenia is confirmed through
radio intelligence and news broadcasts, the German Naval War Staff radios all
U-boats at sea that the Führer has ordered that no hostile action be taken
"for the present" against passenger ships, even if they are
travelling in convoy (see 16 September). Publicly, Germany will continue to
deny responsibility for the sinking of Athenia until the post-war
Nuremberg Trials bring the truth to light.
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
(OpNav) orders Commander Atlantic Squadron to establish, as soon as possible, a
combined air and ship patrol to observe and report, in cipher, the movements of
warships of warring nations, east from Boston along a line to 42°30'N, 65°00'W
then south to 19°N then around the seaward outline of the Windward and Leeward
Islands, to the British island of Trinidad.
European war again comes to the Americas:
British light cruiser HMS Ajax intercepts German freighter Carl
Fritzen200 miles east-southeast of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 33°22'S,
48°50'W, and sinks the merchantman with gunfire.
Captain Alan G. Kirk, U.S. Naval Attaché,
and Commander Norman R. Hitchcock, Assistant Naval Attaché and Assistant Naval
Attaché for Air, are flown to Galway, Ireland, where they interview Athenia's
surviving officers and men. The attaché's investigation concludes that Athenia
was torpedoed by a submarine.
President Roosevelt proclaims the
neutrality of the United States in the war between Germany and France, Poland, the
United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand, and orders the Navy to form a
Neutrality Patrol (see below).
Chief of Naval Operations (Admiral Harold
R. Stark) directs Commander Atlantic Squadron (Rear Admiral Alfred W. Johnson)
to maintain an offshore patrol to report "in confidential system" the
movements of all foreign men-of-war approaching or leaving the east coast of
the United States and approaching and entering or leaving the Caribbean. U.S. Navy
ships are to avoid making a report of foreign men-of-war or suspicious craft,
however, on making contact or when in their vicinity to avoid the performance
of unneutral service "or creating the impression that an unneutral service
is being performed" (see 9 October). The patrol is to extend about 300
miles off the eastern coastline of the United States and along the eastern
boundary of the Caribbean (see 6 September). Furthermore, U.S. naval vessels are
to report the presence of foreign warships sighted at sea to the district
commandant concerned.
Destroyers Davis (DD-395) and Benham
(DD-397) (two 327-foot Coast Guard cutters will be assigned later) are
designated as the Grand Banks Patrol. They are to render rescue and other
neutral assistance in emergencies and to observe and report ("in
confidential system") movements of all foreign warships. They are to
patrol across existing steamer lanes to the southward of the Grand Banks and to
approximately 50° Maritime Commission (Hydrographic Office Special Warning No.
9) directs that all U.S. merchant ships en route to or from Europe are not to
steer a zig zag course, are not to black out at night, and are to paint the
U.S. flag on each side of the hull, on hatches fore and aft, and on sun decks
of passenger vessels, and to illuminate the colors flying from the flagstaff at
night. In Hydrographic Office Special Warning No. 12 (promulgated the same
day), U.S. merchant vessels engaged in domestic, "near-by foreign" or
transpacific trade are not required to paint the flag on hull, hatches and
decks, but otherwise are to follow the other instructions contained in Special
Warning No. 9.
U.S. freighter Black Osprey, bound
for Rotterdam, Holland, and Antwerp, Belgium, is stopped by British warship off
Lizard Head and ordered into the port of Weymouth, one of the five
"contraband control bases" (the others are Ramsgate, Kirkwall,
Gibraltar and Haifa) established by the British government (see 13 September
and 31 October). Freighter Lehigh, bound for Hamburg, Germany, is
detained by the British (see 7 September).
Philippine motorship Don Isidro, on
her maiden voyage en route from her builders' yard at Kiel, Germany, to Manila,
P.I., clears the Suez Canal; U.S. government immediately protests British
authorities having removed, at Port Said, two German engineers (on board
"to guarantee construction and demonstrate proper manning" of the new
vessel) from Don Isidro (which is under the American flag) as illegal
and a violation of the neutral rights of the United States (see29 April 1940).
U.S. steamship President Roosevelt off-loads
British Scott-Paine-type motor torpedo boat PT 9 at New York; PT 9will
be the prototype for the motor torpedo boats constructed by the Electric Boat
Company.
Commander Atlantic Squadron (Rear Admiral
Alfred W. Johnson) begins to establish the off-shore Neutrality Patrol.
Seaplane tenders Gannet (AVP-8) and Thrush (AVP-3) sail for San
Juan, Puerto Rico, to establish a seaplane base there.
Rear Admiral Charles E. Courtney relieves
Rear Admiral Henry E. Lackey as Commander Squadron 40-T, on 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 to have their cargoes inspected.
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, Kapitanleutnant 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 1939). 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.
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.
British authorities seize cargo
(phosphates and cotton) of U.S. freighter Saccarappa; after the items deemed
contraband are unloaded, the ship is released to continue on her voyage.
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) seized as contraband. The ship is
released promptly.
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.
France
and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany but take little immediate action
that succors their Polish allies. German
forces advancing from East Prussia to the south reach the Vistula River. The Luftwaffe has destroyed the main Polish
air bases in the past 48 hours forcing the remaining Polish aircraft to operate
from dispersal locations without benefit of fixed logistical support. The Luftwaffe rapidly gained air superiority
and used it to decimate Polish lines of communication.
US NAVY
Great
Britain and France declare war on Germany in accordance with their prewar
pledges to Poland. Australia and New Zealand follow. Irish Free State, however,
a British dominion, declares its neutrality.
German submarines
(previously deployed to operating areas in late August) begin attacks upon
British shipping: during these early operations, U 30 (Kapitanleutnant
Fritz-Julius Lemp) torpedoes (without warning) British passenger liner Athenia
south of Rockall Bank, 56°44'N, 14°05'W; 28 American citizens are among the
dead. U.S. freighter City of Flint, Swedish yacht Southern Cross, Norwegian
freighter Knute Nelson, and British destroyers HMS Electra and
HMS Escort rescue survivors. Despite having been given strict orders
that all merchant vessels are to be treated in accordance with naval prize law
(giving a warning before attacking) Lemp's torpedoing Athenia in the
belief that she is an armed merchant cruiser gives the British the erroneous
impression that Germany has commenced unrestricted submarine warfare (see 16
and 22 September and 8 November).
Within a fortnight, U
30 is herself a victim, when she is bombed by Skuas from British carrier
HMS Ark Royal on 14September 1939. With a slightly damaged bow and two
torpedo tubes out of action, U 30 puts in to Reykjavik, Iceland, on 19
September to land a seriously wounded man before she returns to sea.
European war comes to
the Americas: less than three hours after the British declaration of war on
Germany, light cruiser HMS Ajax intercepts German freighter Olinda, outward
bound from Montevideo, Uruguay, off the River Plate,34°58'S, 53°32'W. Not
having a prize crew available to seize the enemy merchantman, Ajax shells
and sinks her (see 4September).
British Home Fleet
deploys aircraft carriers to seek out and destroy German submarines: HMS Ark
Royal off the northwestern approaches to the British Isles, HMS Courageous
and HMS Hermes off the southwestern approaches (see 17 September).
U.S. freighter Saccarappa,
with a cargo of phosphates and cotton, is seized by British authorities
(see 8 September).
US NAVY
PACIFIC—Japanese surrender Yap Island in ceremony on board
destroyer Tillman (DD‑641).
US ARMY AIR FORCE
US ARMY
US MARINE CORPS
US NAVY
PACIFIC—Japanese surrender Aguijan Island Marianas, in
ceremony on board Coast Guard Cutter No.83425.
US ARMY AIR FORCE
ELEVENTH AF—2 B‑24’s fly high altitude photo reconnaissance
of Paramushiru and Shimushu, encountering Soviet fighters.
US ARMY
US MARINE CORPS
US NAVY
PACIFIC—Japanese surrender Wake Island in ceremony on board
destroyer escort Levy (DE‑162).
Escort
carrier Anzio (CVE‑57) is damaged in collision with oiler Suamico (AO‑49) while
fueling off Okinawa.
US ARMY AIR FORCE
ELEVENTH AF—A C‑54 on its way from Atsugi to Washington DC
refuels at Adak. The aircraft carries motion pictures of the Japanese surrender
aboard the Missouri.
US ARMY
US MARINE CORPS
Sunday was an auspicious day of the week in WWII. 3 September 1939, France and Britain entered the war against Germany; December 7 1941, Japan struck Pearl Harbor; and 2 September, Japan signed the surrender documents ending the widest conflict the world has known, all on a Sunday.
US NAVY
PACIFIC—Japanese surrender documents are signed on board
battleship Missouri (BB‑63) at anchor in Tokyo Bay. General of the Army Douglas
MacArthur signs for the Allied Powers; Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signs
for the U.S. TF 33 (Rear Admiral John L. Hall) lands army forces at Yokohama.
Japanese
surrender Palau Islands in ceremony on board destroyer escort Amick (DE‑168).
Japanese
surrender Truk in ceremony on board heavy cruiser Portland (CA‑33).
Japanese
surrender Pagan Island northern Marianas, on board destroyer Rhind (DD‑404).
Japanese
surrender Rota, Marianas, in ceremony on board destroyer escort Heyliger (DE‑510).
US ARMY AIR FORCE
INTERNATIONAL—Hostilities with Japan end officially with
the signing of the instrument of surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo
Bay.
US ARMY
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS—Hostilities with Japan officially
end with signing of instrument of surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo
Bay. U.S. Army battle casualties during World War II total 936,259, or about 9
percent of the 10,420,000 military personnel who served in the U.S. Army and
Army Air Forces. (On 31 December 1946, hostilities are declared terminated by
Presidential proclamation.)
US MARINE CORPS
Japanese sign instrument of surrender in Tokyo Bay.
