86 Years Ago, Sunday, 17 September 1939

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).

85 Years Ago, Monday, 16 September 1940

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).

86 Years Ago, Saturday, 16 September 1939

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).

80 Years Ago, Saturday, 15 September 1945

US NAVY

 

US ARMY AIR FORCE

FIFTEENTH AF—Fifteenth AF is inactivated in Italy.

 

US ARMY

 

US MARINE CORPS

86 Years Ago, Thursday, 14 September 1939

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). 

85 Years Ago, Thursday, 12 September 1940

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).

86 Years Ago, Monday, 11 September 1939

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).