On The Week of 8-15 October 1939

US NAVY

Sunday, 8 October 8,

            Coast Guard cutter Campbell joins U.S. passenger liner Iroquois, followed later by destroyers Davis (DD‑395) and Benham (DD‑397). The four ships proceed in company to New York (see 11 October).

            German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee takes on board crews of British freighters Ashlea and Newton Beech in the South Atlantic and sinks the latter with demolition charges.

Monday, 9 October 1939

            President Roosevelt, in memorandum for the Acting Secretary of the Navy, expresses displeasure with "the slowness of getting the East Coast, Caribbean, and Gulf Patrol under way," the "lag between the making of contacts and the follow‑up of the contact," and the weakness of the liaison between the Navy, the Coast Guard and the State Department. The Chief Executive emphasizes that "in this whole patrol business time is of the essence and loss of contact with surface ships will not be tolerated." Roosevelt urges that patrol planes and naval or Coast Guard ships “may report the sighting of any submarine or suspicious surface ship in plain English" (see 20 October).

            German armored ship Deutschland seizes U.S. freighter City of Flint, en route from New York to the United Kingdom, as "contraband carrier" and places a prize crew on board (see 21, 23, 24, 27 and 28 October and 3 November).

            British Northern Patrol continues operations between the Shetlands, Faeroes, and Iceland; light cruiser HMS Belfast captures German passenger ship Cap Norte.

Tuesday, 10 October 1939

            German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee stops and puts prize crew on board British freighter Huntsman in the South Atlantic at 08°30'S, 05°15'W.

            U.S. freighter Patrick Henry is detained by British authorities (see 22 October). British authorities remove from freighter Black Gull (detained since 6 October) 293 sacks of American mail addressed to Rotterdam, Holland, and 10to Antwerp, Belgium. This is among the first instances of the British removing mail addressed to neutral countries and opening and censoring sealed letter mail sent from the United States (see 11 October).

            U.S. freighter Syros, detained by French authorities since 14 September, is released.

            Norwegian freighter Brott, detained at Sivinemünde, Germany, since early October with a cargo of wood pulp/wood pulp products, is released by German authorities to proceed on her voyage to the United States.

Wednesday, 11 October 1939

            Submarine rescue vessel Pigeon (ASR‑6), driven aground at Tsingtao, China, by a severe hurricane on 31 August, is refloated.

            U.S. passenger liner Iroquois arrives safely in New York harbor, having been accompanied for three days by Coast Guard cutter Campbell and destroyers Davis (DD‑395) and Benham (DD‑397). Iroquois will later be acquired by the Navy on 22 July 1940 and will be converted to a hospital ship. As Solace (AH‑5) she will play an important role at Pearl Harbor (see 7 December 1941).

            U.S. freighter Sundance is detained at London, England, by British authorities (see 25 October); freighter Black Tern is detained at Weymouth, England (see 12 and 28 October); freighter Black Gull, detained by the British since 6 October, is released.

Thursday, 12 October 1939

            German submarines attack convoys of French and British shipping; U 48 shells and sinks French motor tanker Emile Miguet (from convoy KJ 2S) at 50°15'N, 14°50'W, and later torpedoes and sinks British freighter Heronspool (convoy OB 17S) at 50°13'N, 14°48'W. U.S. merchantmen rescue the survivors: freighter Black Hawk rescues Emile Miguet's crew, passenger liner President Harding rescues Heronspool's.

            British warships operating on the Northern Patrol continue to stop neutral merchantman; between this date and 26October, 112 vessels are stopped, of which 23 are detained at Kirkwall for the inspection of their cargoes.

            British seizure of U.S. mail continues: authorities at the contraband control station at Weymouth remove 94 sacks addressed to Rotterdam, 81 to Antwerp and 184 to Germany, from U.S. freighter Black Tern, which had been detained the day before; authorities at the Downs remove 77 sacks of parcel post, 33 sacks of registered mail, and 156 sacks of regular mail addressed to the Netherlands, in addition to 65 sacks of mail addressed to Belgium, 4 to Luxembourg, 3to Danzig, and 259 to Germany, from Dutch motorship Zaandam.

Friday, 13 October 1939

            U.S. freighter Iberville is detained by British authorities (see 24 October); freighter Oakman is detained by the British (see 27 October).

            German submarine U 47 penetrates defenses of British fleet base at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, shortly before midnight and attacks. Her initial spread of torpedoes causes no damage to battleship HMS Royal Oak and aircraft repair vessel HMS Pegasus (see 14 October).

Saturday, 14 October 1939

            German submarine U 47 quickly carries out second attack in the confines of Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, and torpedoes battleship HMS Royal Oak, 58°55'N, 02°59'W, which sinks in 13 minutes.

            German armored ship Deutschland sinks Norwegian freighter Lorentz W. Hansen 420 miles east of Newfoundland,49°05'N, 43°44'W.

            U.S. freighter Scanstates is detained at Kirkwall, Orkneys, by British authorities; freighter Exporter is detained at Gibraltar by the British (see 20 and 27 October, respectively).

            U.S. freighter Nashaba is detained at Le Havre by French authorities (see 25 October).