US NAVY
3 January 1941, Friday
ATLANTIC—Heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA‑37) departs
Lisbon, Portugal, for Norfolk, Virginia, having transported Admiral William D.
Leahy, USN (Retired), U.S. Ambassador to France, on the transatlantic leg of
his journey to his diplomatic post.
5 January 1941, Sunday
ATLANTIC—Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA‑28) arrives at
Simonstown, South Africa (see 6 January).
6 January 1941, Monday
ATLANTIC—Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA‑28) departs
Simonstown for New York, having taken on board $148,342,212.55 in British gold
for deposit in American banks (see 22 January).
7 January 1941, Tuesday
UNITED STATES—Office of Production Management is
established under industrialist William S. Knudsen, labor leader Sidney Hillman,
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.
8 January 1941, Wednesday
FRANCE—Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired) presents his
credentials as Ambassador to France at Vichy.
9 January 1941, Thursday
PACIFIC—Transport William Ward Burrows (AP‑6)
arrives at Wake Island with first increment of workmen (Contractors Pacific
Naval Air Bases) to begin building a naval air station there.
10 January 1941, Friday
ANTARCTICA—Auxiliary Bear (AG‑29) returns to Bay of
Whales, Antarctica, to evacuate West Base; the evacuation is under the
supervision of Commander Richard H. Cruzen, second‑in‑command of the U.S.
Antarctic Service.
MEDITERRANEAN—During air attack on British force off Malta,
carrier HMS Illustrious is bombed and damaged by Luftwaffe JU 87s;
Lieutenant Commander Frederick P. Hartman, U.S. Naval Observer on board, is
consequently commended for gallantry in action.
11 January 1941, Saturday
PACIFIC—Rear Admiral Harold M. Bemis relieves Captain
Eugene T. Oates as Commandant, Sixteenth Naval District and Navy Yard, Cavite,
P.I. Captain Oates had been acting commandant since the incapacitation of Rear
Admiral John M. Smeallie in December 1940.
16 January 1941, Thursday
UNITED STATES—President asks Congress for immediate
appropriation of $350 million for 200 new merchant ships.
17 January 1941, Friday
PACIFIC—Rear Admiral Thomas Withers relieves Rear Admiral
Wilhelm L. Friedell as Commander Submarines Scouting Force, on board light
cruiser Richmond (CL‑9) (force flagship) at Pearl Harbor, T.H.
Battle of
Koh Chang: Vichy French retaliate against Thai moves against Cambodia. French
squadron (Rear Admiral Jules Terraux) consisting of light cruiser Lamotte‑Picquet,
colonial sloops Amiral Charner and Dumont D'Urville and sloops Tahure
and Marne, decisively defeats a Thai Navy force in a surface gunnery
and torpedo action fought in the Gulf of Siam, sinking coast defense ship Dhonburi
and torpedo boats Cholbury and Songkhla and damaging coast
defense ship Sri Ayuthia and torpedo boat Trat in about two hours.
18 January 1941, Saturday
UNITED STATES—German Consul General in San Francisco,
California, displays the prescribed German Reich flag from the consular office
in recognition of German national holiday. At noon this day the flag is taken
down in the presence of what is described as "a large shouting throng of
people" and torn to pieces. German Chargé d'Affaires Hans Thomsen makes
“most emphatic protest" over the incident (see 19 January and 25 June).
19 January 1941, Sunday
UNITED STATES—Secretary of State Cordell Hull responds to
German Chargé d'Affaires Hans Thomsen's protest over the incident concerning
the tearing down of the Reich flag over the consulate in San Francisco,
promising a full investigation (see 25 June).
22 January 1941, Wednesday
UNITED STATES—Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA‑28)
arrives at New York, with $148,342,212.55 in British gold brought from
Simonstown, South Africa, to be deposited in American banks.
24 January 1941, Friday
ANTARCTICA—Interior Department motorship North Star arrives
at Bay of Whales, Antarctica, to take part in evacuating West Base of U.S.
Antarctic Service.
25 January 1941, Saturday
UNITED STATES—Keel of battleship Wisconsin (BB‑64)
is laid at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She will be the last battleship ever
built by the U.S. Navy.
29 January 1941, Wednesday
UNITED STATES—U.S.‑British‑Canadian staff conversations
begin in Washington to determine joint strategy in case of U.S. involvement in
the war.
30 January 1941, Thursday
EUROPE—Germany announces that ships of any nationality
bringing aid to Great Britain will be torpedoed.
31 January 1941, Friday
UNITED STATES—Vice Admiral William S. Pye relieves Admiral
Charles P. Snyder as Commander Battle Force.
Vice
Admiral Walter S. Anderson becomes Commander Battleships Battle Force.
ANTARCTICA—West Base, U.S. Antarctic Service, is closed.
