In the Month of August 1941

US NAVY

1 August 1941, Friday

PACIFIC—Naval Air Station, Midway Island is established, Commander Cyril T. Simard in command.

ATLANTIC—Naval Operating Base, Trinidad, is established.

            Transport West Point (AP‑23) arrives at New York with American and Chinese passengers.

3 August 1941, Sunday

UNITED STATES—President Roosevelt departs Washington, D.C., by train for Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut, where he arrives later the same day, boarding presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25) that evening. Accompanied by auxiliary Calypso (AG‑35), Potomac sails for Point Judith, R.I., where the ship anchors for the night.

4 August 1941, Monday

ATLANTIC—New River (North Carolina) Maneuvers begin with the 1st Marine Division and the First Infantry Division, U.S. Army, engaging in amphibious exercises. Aircraft escort vessel Long Island (AVG‑1) participates and provides close air support in a test of that type of ship in that role.   

            Presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25), accompanied by Calypso (AG‑35), proceeds to South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where she embarks Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Martha of Norway and her party. After a day of fishing ("with some luck") the Chief Executive personally takes the helm of a Chris‑Craft motorboat and transports his guests back to the place whence they came. That night, Potomac, again accompanied by Calypso, shifts to Menemsha Bight, Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts, where they join heavy cruisers Augusta (CA‑31) and Tuscaloosa (CA‑37) and five destroyers.

5 August 1941, Tuesday

ATLANTIC—President Roosevelt transfers from presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25) to heavy cruiser Augusta (CA‑31); soon thereafter, Augusta and Tuscaloosa (CA‑37) and five destroyers sail for Argentia, Newfoundland. The President's flag, however, remains in Potomac and she, in company with Calypso, will proceed via Cape Cod Canal to New England waters, maintaining a fiction of presidential presence (see 7 August).

PACIFIC—Heavy cruisers Northampton (CA‑26) and Salt Lake City (CA‑25) arrive at Brisbane, Australia, for a goodwill visit.

6 August 1941, Wednesday

ATLANTIC—TF 16 (Rear Admiral William R. Monroe), formed around carrier Wasp (CV‑7), battleship Mississippi (BB‑41), heavy cruisers Quincy (CA‑39) and Wichita (CA‑45), and five destroyers, delivers U.S. Army troops, transported in transport American Legion (AP‑35), stores ship Mizar (AF 120), and cargo ship Almaack (AK‑27) to Reykjavik, Iceland. Carrier Wasp (CV‑7) flies off USAAF P‑40s and PT‑13s (33d Pursuit Squadron) to Iceland to provide cover for the soldiers' arrival.

PACIFIC—Executive order transfers Coast Guard's Honolulu District from the Treasury Department to the Navy in the first step toward shifting the Coast Guard to naval control (see 11 September and 1 November).

7 August 1941, Thursday

ATLANTIC—President Roosevelt arrives at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, in heavy cruiser Augusta (CA‑31); this day he fishes from the flagship's forecastle and inspects base development at Argentia (see 9 August).

8 August 1941, Friday

UNITED STATES—Japanese Ambassador Nomura suggests conference between President Roosevelt and Japanese Prime Minister Konoye.

9 August 1941, Saturday

ATLANTIC—Atlantic Charter Conference: British battleship HMS Prince of Wales, with British Prime Minister Winston L.S. Churchill embarked, arrives at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, escorted by destroyer HMS Ripley [ex‑U.S. destroyer Shubrick (DD‑268)] and Canadian destroyers HMCS Restigouche and Assiniboine. In this first meeting between the two men, Churchill calls upon President Roosevelt on board heavy cruiser Augusta (CA‑31); the two confer over luncheon and dinner before the prime minister returns to Prince of Wales.

10 August 1941, Sunday

ATLANTIC—Atlantic Charter Conference continues: President Roosevelt, transported in destroyer McDougal (DD‑358), attends divine services in British battleship HMS Prince of Wales as guest of Prime Minister Churchill, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. About 250 U.S. sailors and marines attend the service as well, wherein hymns "O God, Our Help in Ages Past," "Onward, Christian Soldiers," and "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" [the Navy hymn] are sung by all hands. "O God Our Help in Ages Past" was also sung during the funeral service for the late Lord Lothian, the British Ambassador to the United States, at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on 15 December 1940.– After inspecting the topsides of the British battleship, the President returns in McDougal to heavy cruiser Augusta (CA‑31); that night, the chief executive hosts the Prime Minister at dinner.

11 August 1941, Monday

ATLANTIC—Atlantic Charter Conference continues: President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill confer twice on-board heavy cruiser Augusta (CA‑31).

12 August 1941, Tuesday

ATLANTIC—Atlantic Charter Conference concludes as President Roosevelt confers with Prime Minister Churchill on board heavy cruiser Augusta (CA‑31). Discussions have concerned British needs for support, joint strategy, and the political character of the postwar world. The Atlantic Charter, the joint declaration that result from the meetings, outline goals in the war against Germany and emphasize the principles of freedom, self-determination, peace, and cooperation. Roosevelt privately reassures Churchill that when the United States enters the war, it would accord the defeat of Germany first priority. He also pledges that U.S. warships would escort British merchant ships between the United States and Iceland. After the last meeting, Prime Minister Churchill embarks in battleship HMS Prince of Wales and departs Placentia Bay. Soon thereafter, Augusta, accompanied by the same ships that had steamed with her to Newfoundland, sails for Blue Hill Bay, Maine, to rendezvous with presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25) and Calypso (AG‑35).

            Maneuvers at New River, North Carolina, conclude.

13 August 1941, Wednesday

PACIFIC—Heavy cruisers Northampton (CA‑26) and Salt Lake City (CA‑25), arrive at Port Moresby, Papua, Australian Territory of New Guinea, for a goodwill visit.

14 August 1941, Thursday

ATLANTIC—President Roosevelt, on board heavy cruiser Augusta (CA‑31), returning from the Atlantic Charter conference, witnesses exhibition of flight operations by aircraft escort vessel Long Island (AVG 1) off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia. Roosevelt had been instrumental in championing conversion of merchant vessels to auxiliary aircraft carriers. Long Island’s embarked scouting squadron (VS 201) is equipped with F2As and SOCs. That afternoon, Augusta reaches Blue Hill Bay, Maine, where the chief executive reembarks in presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25).

            Submarine chaser PC 457 is accidentally sunk in collision with U.S. freighter Norluna off Puerto Rico.

PACIFIC—During Japanese bombing raid on Chungking, China, Japanese planes approach the city from the east, passing directly over the U.S. Embassy chancery and the river gunboat Tutuila (PR‑4). There is no repetition of the incident of 30 July.

15 August 1941, Friday

PACIFIC—Naval Air Station, Palmyra Island, and Naval Air Facility, Johnston Island, are established.

ATLANTIC—TG 2.5, comprising carrier Yorktown (CV‑5) (VF 42, VS 41, and VT 5), light cruiser Brooklyn (CL‑40) and destroyers Roe (DD‑418), Grayson (DD‑435), and Eberle (DD‑430), departs Bermuda to begin 4,064‑mile neutrality patrol that will conclude at Bermuda on 27 August.

            President Roosevelt fishes with "indifferent luck" off Deer Island from presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25); the ship anchors in Pulpit Harbor, Penobscot Bay for the night.

US MARINE CORPS

PACIFIC—Naval Air Station, Palmyra Island, and Naval Air Facility, Johnston Island, established.

16 August 1941, Saturday

US NAVY

ATLANTIC—Presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25) reaches Rockland, Maine, and disembarks President Roosevelt and his party. The chief executive returns by train to Washington the following morning.

PACIFIC—Heavy cruisers Northampton (CA‑26) and Salt Lake City (CA‑25) arrive at Rabaul, New Britain, British New Guinea, for a goodwill visit.

17 August 1941, Sunday

UNITED STATES—President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull confer with Japanese Ambassador Nomura and state conditions for resuming conversations or arranging a Pacific conference.

ATLANTIC—Panamanian (ex‑Danish) freighter Sessa is torpedoed and sunk about 300 miles southwest of Iceland, 61°26'N,30°50'W (see 6 September). The freighter's assailant is unknown.

18 August 1941, Monday

UNITED STATES—President Roosevelt announces that the United States is ferrying combat aircraft to British in Near East via Brazil and Africa.

19 August 1941, Tuesday

PACIFIC—Wake Detachment, 1st Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force (Major Lewis A. Hohn, USMC), arrives at Wake Island in cargo ship Regulus (AK‑14) to begin work on defense installations.

22 August 1941, Friday

ATLANTIC—Destroyer Hughes (DD‑410) is damaged when accidentally rammed by British freighter Chulmleigh at Reykjavik, Iceland.

25 August 1941, Monday

IRAN—British and Soviet forces invade Iran from south and north respectively.

ATLANTIC—TG 2.6 (Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt), comprising Wasp (CV‑7), light cruiser Savannah (CL‑42), and destroyers Meredith (DD‑434) and Gwin (DD‑433), departs Hampton Roads, Virginia, on a neutrality patrol that will conclude at Bermuda on 10 September.

26 August 1941, Tuesday

UNITED STATES—Ship Warrants Act is invoked by Executive Order, empowering President to direct Maritime Commission to establish cargo handling, ship repair, and maintenance priorities for merchant ships.

27 August 1941, Wednesday

UNITED STATES—Japan protests shipment of U.S. goods to Vladivostok, Soviet Far East, through Japanese waters.

ATLANTIC—German submarine U‑570, attacked by an RAF Hudson (No. 269 Squadron), is captured intact by British surface force in the North Atlantic. The Royal Navy thoroughly evaluated the submarine, the first to be captured intact for intensive study; the U‑boat served as HMS Graph until it was wrecked in 1944. Among the ships that captured the submarine was Canadian destroyer HMCS Niagara, formerly USS Thatcher (DD‑162), one of the fifty destroyers transferred in the destroyers‑for‑bases agreement of August 1940.

28 August 1941, Thursday

UNITED STATES—Supply, Priorities, and Allocations Board is established.

IRAN—Hostilities in Iran cease.

ATLANTIC—TG 2.7, comprising aircraft escort vessel Long Island (AVG 1) (VGS 1), light cruiser Nashville (CL‑43) and destroyers Livermore (DD‑429) and Kearny (DD‑432) departs Bermuda. It will conclude the patrol‑‑the first involving the prototype "escort carrier"‑‑at Bermuda on 9 September.