In the Month of July 1940

US NAVY

Monday, 1 July 1940

            Navy awards contracts for 44 ships.

            Headquarters Marine Aircraft Wing, Fleet Marine Force (Brigadier General Ross E. Rowell, USMC) is established at the Marine Corps Base, San Diego, California.

            U.S. Ambassador to France William C. Bullitt has lengthy private interview with the President of the French Council of Ministers, Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, in which the latter informs the envoy that orders had been given "to every captain of the French Fleet to sink his ship rather than permit [it] to fall into German hands." The same day, Bullitt also has interview with Admiral François Darlan, who informs him that if the Germans should demand the Fleet, it had orders to leave at once for Martinique and Guantanamo to place its ships in U.S. hands. He echoes Marshal Pétain's declaration that French ships had orders to scuttle if the Germans attempt to seize them.

            Destroyer O'Brien (DD‑415) reaches Santos, Brazil, as her shakedown cruise to Latin American ports continues (see 3July).

Tuesday, 2 July 1940

            Congress passes Export Control Act giving the President the power, whenever he deems "necessary in the interest of national defense" to prohibit or curtail the exportation of military equipment, munitions, tools, and materials.

Wednesday, 3 July 1940

            Operation Catapult: British warships attack French naval vessels at Mers‑el‑Kebir, near Oran, Algeria, sinking battleship Bretagne and damaging battleship Provence and battlecruiser Dunkerque, and sinking seaplane tender Commandant Teste and destroyer Mogadore; French men‑of‑war in British ports (principally Portsmouth or Plymouth) are seized.

            Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA‑45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA‑39) depart Montevideo, Uruguay, for Brazilian waters.

            Light cruiser Phoenix (CL‑46) reaches Balboa, C.Z. (see 5 July).

            Destroyer O'Brien (DD‑415) departs Santos, Brazil, for Para, Brazil (see 9 July).

            Destroyer Dickerson (DD‑157), attached to Squadron 40‑T, departs Bilbao, Spain, for Lisbon, Portugal (see 5 July).

Friday, 5 July 1940

US NAVY

            Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Great Britain.

            President Roosevelt invokes Export Control Act against Japan by prohibiting exportation, without license, of strategic minerals and chemicals, aircraft engines, parts, and equipment.

            Admiral James O. Richardson arrives in Washington for conferences with the President and Navy and State Department officials concerning the retention of the U.S. Fleet in Hawaiian waters. He will depart to return to the fleet on 17 July.

            Light cruiser Omaha (CL‑4) relieves light cruiser Trenton (CL‑11) as flagship for Squadron 40‑T (Rear Admiral David M. LeBreton) at Lisbon, Portugal.

            Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA‑45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA‑39) reach Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil.

            Light cruiser Phoenix (CL‑46) departs Balboa, C.Z., for Valparaiso, Chile (see 12 July).

US MARINE CORPS

             Export Control Act invoked against Japan to prohibit exportation of strategic materials and equipment.

Monday, 8 July 1940

US NAVY

            British launch two attacks to disable French battleship Richelieu at Dakar. In the first, four depth charges dropped over the side of motor boat from carrier HMS Hermes fail to explode. In the second, FAA Swordfish TSR (torpedo spotting reconnaissance) planes (No. 814 Squadron) torpedo Richelieu, rendering her incapable of steaming at more than half power. Her main battery, however, is unaffected.

Tuesday, 9 July 1940

            Destroyer O'Brien (DD‑415) reaches Para, Brazil, in the course of her shakedown cruise (see 12 July).

            Coast Guard cutter Campbell arrives at Boston, Massachusetts, with U.S. Consul to Greenland James K. Penfield, Governor of North Greenland E. Brun, and a group of Danish officials to discuss commerce and trade of Greenland, due to the interruption of direct contact with Denmark, Greenland's mother country.

Wednesday, 10 July 1940

            Battle of Britain begins with first concentrated German air attacks on British convoys in the English Channel.

Thursday, 11 July 1940

            William Franklin [Frank] Knox of Illinois, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, takes office as Secretary of the Navy. President Roosevelt's choice of Knox, who had been the Republican Party's vice‑presidential nominee in the 1936election, reflects the Chief Executive's desire for bipartisan support of his policies.

            Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA‑45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA‑39) depart Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil, for Santos, Brazil.

            Captain Laurence Wild relieves Captain Edward W. Hanson as Governor of American Samoa and Commandant of Naval Station, Tutuila, Samoa.

Friday, 12 July 1940

            Light cruiser Phoenix (CL‑46) reaches Valparaiso, Chile, for a six‑day visit "to cultivate friendly relations" (see 18July).

            Destroyer O'Brien (DD‑415) departs Pará, Brazil, for La Guaira, Venezuela (see 16 July).

            Destroyers Walke (DD‑416) and Wainwright (DD‑420) reach Pará:, Brazil, en route to Rio de Janeiro. Both destroyers are transporting marines to join the detachments in heavy cruisers Wichita (CA‑45) and Quincy (CA‑39).

            U.S. passenger liner Manhattan departs Lisbon, Portugal, with approximately 800 American citizens and their families.

Saturday, 13 July 1940

            Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA‑45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA‑39) reach Santos, Brazil.

            Destroyers Walke (DD‑416) and Wainwright (DD‑420) depart Pará, Brazil, for Rio de Janeiro.

Monday, 15 July 1940

            Light cruiser Trenton (CL‑11) sails from Lisbon with members of the royal family of the Duchy of Luxembourg embarked (see 25 July).

Thursday, 18 July 1940

            Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA‑45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA‑39) depart Santos, Brazil, to paya return call at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

            Light cruiser Phoenix (CL‑46) departs Valparaiso, Chile, for Callao, Peru (see 22 July).

Friday, 19 July 1940

US NAVY

            President Roosevelt signs Naval Expansion ("Two Ocean Navy") Act providing, among other things, for 1,325,000tons of combatant shipping, 100,000 tons of auxiliary shipping, and 15,000 aircraft; this legislation will expand the fleet 70 percent.

            Presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25), with President Roosevelt embarked, departs Washington Navy Yard for cruise in Chesapeake Bay, accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG‑26) (see 21 July).

            Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA‑45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA‑39) reach Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; destroyers Walke (DD‑416) and Wainwright (DD‑420) arrive the same day and transfer their marine passengers; Walke's to Wichita and Wainwright's to Quincy.

US MARINE CORPS

            President signs Naval Expansion Act containing provisions for “Two Ocean Navy.”

Saturday, 20 July 1940

US NAVY

            Destroyers Walke (DD‑416) and Wainwright (DD‑420) depart Rio de Janeiro for Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil (see 23July).

Sunday, 21 July 1940

            Presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25), with President Roosevelt embarked, returns to Washington Navy Yard after a cruise in Chesapeake Bay, accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG‑26).

Monday, 22 July 1940

            Light cruiser Phoenix (CL‑46) reaches Callao, Peru (see 26 July).

Tuesday, 23 July 1940

            Destroyers Walke (DD‑416) and Wainwright (DD‑420) reach Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil (see 29 July).

Thursday, 25 July 1940

            Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA‑45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA‑39) depart Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for Bahia, Brazil.

            Light cruiser Trenton (CL‑11) arrives at Annapolis, Maryland, and disembarks members of the royal family of the Duchy of Luxembourg.

Friday, 26 July 1940

            President Roosevelt invokes Export Control Act and prohibits exportation, without license, of aviation gasoline and certain classes of iron and steel scrap; this legislation halts flow of those important commodities to Japan.

            Light cruiser Phoenix (CL‑46) departs Callao, Peru, concluding her goodwill cruise to Chilean and Peruvian' waters. She reaches Balboa, C.Z., on 30 July, and returns to the fleet at San Pedro on 7 August.

Saturday, 27 July 1940

            Presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25), with President Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy Knox and House Naval Affairs Committee chairman Carl Vinson embarked, departs Washington Navy Yard for Norfolk Navy Yard, accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG‑26) (see 29 July).

Monday, 29 July 1940

            Presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25), with President Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy Knox and House Naval Affairs Committee chairman Carl Vinson embarked, reaches Norfolk Navy Yard, accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG‑26). Roosevelt and his guests inspect the yard and Naval Operating Base before reembarking in Potomac and travelling to Fortress Monroe, which the President inspects, as well as the USAAC Langley Field and the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company (see 30 July).

            Destroyers Walke (DD‑416) and Wainwright (DD‑420) depart Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil, for Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Tuesday, 30 July 1940

            Act of Havana, providing for the emergency establishment of a regime of provisional administration under specified conditions "when islands or regions in the Americas now under the possession of non‑American nations are in danger of becoming the subject of barter of territory or change of sovereignty" is signed by 21 nations at the Conference of Foreign Ministers of the American Republics.

            Presidential yacht Potomac (AG‑25), accompanied by auxiliary Cuyahoga (AG‑26), returns to Washington Navy Yard with President Roosevelt embarked.

            Destroyers Walke (DD‑416) and Wainwright (DD‑420) reach Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Wednesday, 31 July 1940

            Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA‑45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA‑39) reach Bahia, Brazil.

            British Prime Minister Churchill, in telegram sent from the U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James (Joseph P. Kennedy) to Secretary of State Hull, again asks President Roosevelt for the loan of destroyers. In the previous tendays, the Royal Navy has suffered the loss of four of its destroyers and damage to seven. "If we cannot get reinforcement," Churchill states, "the whole fate of the war may be decided by this minor and easily remediable factor.