In the Month of May 1940

US NAVY

Wednesday, 1 May 1940

            Naval Air Station, San Juan, Puerto Rico, is established effective this date, and designated as an activity of the Tenth Naval District. Captain Virgil C. Griffin, Jr., is the first commanding officer.

Friday, 3 May 1940

            Greenland, a crown colony of Denmark, seeks U.S. protection, so that Danish sovereignty can be maintained during the German occupation of the homeland.

Tuesday, 7 May 1940

US NAVY

            President Roosevelt orders U.S. Fleet to remain in Hawaiian waters indefinitely as a deterrent to Japan (see 5 July and7 October).

US MARINE CORPS

            Pacific Fleet ordered by President to remain indefinitely in Hawaiian waters.

Wednesday, 8 May 1940

US NAVY

            River gunboat Tutuila (PR‑4) is damaged when she runs aground on a reef and becomes stranded as she shifts her anchorage at Chungking, China (see 13 May).

Friday, 10 May 1940

            Germany invades the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The Netherlands and Belgium declare war on Germany.

            British troops occupy Iceland.

            British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns; First Lord of the Admiralty Winston S. Churchill becomes prime minister.

            Secretary of State Hull reiterates that the United States will not stand for any country establishing a protectorate over the Netherlands East Indies. Japanese Foreign Minister indicates his country's desire to maintain the political and economic status quo in that region.

Saturday, 11 May 1940

            President Roosevelt issues proclamations (1) recognizing the state of war that exists between Germany and Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; (2) proclaiming American neutrality in the conflict; and (3) restricting belligerent submarines from using American ports and territorial waters, exclusive of the Panama Canal Zone.

            British and French troops occupy Curaçao and Aruba, Netherlands West Indies. President Roosevelt announces that these actions are not contrary to the Monroe Doctrine.

Monday, 13 May 1940

            River gunboat Tutuila (PR‑4), stranded on a reef in the Yangtze River off Chungking, China, since 8 May, is refloated.

            Dutch Royal Family and government flees to London, England.

Tuesday, 14 May 1940

            German troops smash through French lines at Sedan, and move toward the English Channel.

            Dutch Army capitulates to Germany.

Wednesday, 15 May 1940

            British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill ("Former Naval Person") pleads for U.S. aid in a personal message to President Roosevelt. Churchill's request is six‑fold. First, he requests the loan of 40 or 50 "older destroyers" to bridge the gap between what the Royal Navy has on hand and what is under construction; second, he asks for "several hundred" of the latest planes; third, he asks for antiaircraft "equipment and ammunition"; fourth, he asks that the U.S. continue to provide Britain with steel; fifth, he asks that a U.S. squadron visit Irish ports; and sixth, he intimates that the U.S. "keep that Japanese dog quiet in the Pacific, using Singapore in any way convenient" (see 16 May and 11June).

            U.S. Minister in Uruguay, Edwin C. Wilson, reports to Secretary of State Hull that there has been an increase in "Nazi activities" in Uruguay. He notes "indifference and apathy...and in certain cases something worse evidenced by the Uruguayan government. The situation, Wilson warns, "has serious possibilities" (see 20 May).

Thursday, 16 May 1940

            President Roosevelt asks Congress to appropriate $546 million for the Army, $250 million for the Navy and Marine Corps, and $100 million for the President to provide for emergencies affecting the national security and defense. He also asks for authorizations for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps to make contract obligations in the further sum of$186 million, and to the President an additional authorization to make contract obligations for $100 million. He also suggests that 50,000 planes a year be built.

            President Roosevelt responds noncommittally to Prime Minister Churchill's telegram of the previous day. Addressing the possible loan of destroyers, Churchill's first concern, the President informs the "Former Naval Person" that such a step cannot be taken without "specific authorization of the Congress" and that U.S. defense requirements assumed priority. He also informs Churchill that the U.S. Fleet would remain concentrated in Hawaiian waters, "at least for the time being."

Friday, 17 May 1940

            President Roosevelt announces plans for recommissioning 35 more "flush deck" destroyers to meet the requirements of fleet expansion and the Neutrality Patrol.

Saturday, 18 May 1940

            British Prime Minister Churchill, in telegram to President Roosevelt, tells of British perseverance but suggests that "if American assistance is to play any part it must be available [soon]."

Monday, 20 May 1940

            British Prime Minister Churchill, in telegram to President Roosevelt concerning the recent meeting of Lord Lothian (British Ambassador to the U.S.) with the Chief Executive, acknowledges U.S. difficulties but expresses continuing interest in destroyers. "If they were here in 6 weeks," Churchill states, "they would play an invaluable part."

            President Roosevelt, in memorandum to Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles, expresses concern over the situation in Uruguay as reported by U.S. Minister Edwin C. Wilson, on 15 May. "Is there some way," Roosevelt asks Welles, “in which the Minister of Uruguay in Washington and Mr. Wilson in Montevideo can get word to the Uruguayan Government that the United States is concerned...?" Undersecretary Welles, in his response to the President that someday reports that the Uruguayan government has taken steps to investigate Nazi activities in Montevideo (see 26 May).

Tuesday, 21 May 1940

            German troops reach the English Channel west of Abbeville, France, splitting the Allied armies and encircling their northern remnant.

Friday, 24 May 1940

            President of Panama addresses diplomatic notes to the government of the Dominican Republic, supporting its position in the Hannover incident of 8 March, to the British and German governments, calling attention to their violation of the Pan‑American Neutrality Zone, and to the Chairman of the Inter‑American Neutrality Committee in Rio de Janeiro, directing that body's attention to the case.

            Allied Supreme Command decides to evacuate its forces from Norway.

Saturday, 25 May 1940

            Minor Landing and Base Defense Exercise begins at San Clemente Island, California (see 1 June).

Sunday, 26 May 1940

            U.S. Minister in Uruguay Edwin C. Wilson, in telegram to Secretary of State Hull, reports tension between the Uruguayan and German governments over the former's searching homes and businesses of Germans and charges by the latter that the Uruguayan police were employing "rough methods" in their investigations (see 30 May).

            Operation dynamo: evacuation of British, French, and Belgian troops from Dunkirk, France, begins, aided by poor flying weather that limits German aerial operations (see 4 June).

Tuesday, 28 May 1940

            National Defense Advisory Committee is established, which includes in its membership former automobile manufacturer William S. Knudsen, corporate executive Edward R. Stettinius, labor leader Sidney Hillman, and economist Leon Henderson. There is, however, no head to this group, that only serves to advise President Roosevelt on defense issues (see 7 January 1941).

            Belgium surrenders to Germany.

            Ambassador to France William C. Bullitt (through a telegram to Secretary of State Hull) urgently asks President Roosevelt to send a cruiser to Bordeaux, France (1) to bring arms and ammunition urgently required by the French police to quell a feared "Communist uprising" as German forces near Paris and other industrial centers and (2) to take away the French and Belgian gold reserves. "If you cannot send a cruiser of the San Francisco [CA 38] class to Bordeaux," Bullitt implores, "please order the Trenton (CL‑11) at Lisbon [Squadron 40‑T flagship] to take on fuel and supplies at once for a trip to America and order her today to Bordeaux." Consequently, heavy cruiser Vincennes (CA‑44) departs Hampton Roads in company with destroyers Truxtun (DD‑229) and Simpson (DD‑221), bound for the Azores on the first leg of the voyage undertaken in response to the ambassador's second concern (see 9 June).

            Ambassador Bullitt also urges that the Atlantic Fleet be sent to the Mediterranean as "one of the surest ways" to obtain British and French cooperation in keeping German attacks away from the U.S. (see 30 May).

Wednesday, 29 May 1940

            French auxiliary cruiser Ville d'Oran loads 200 tons of gold (French reserve) for shipment to Casablanca (see 9‑10June).

Thursday, 30 May 1940

            President Roosevelt (through Secretary of State Hull) rejects Ambassador Bullitt's request of 28 May to send the fleet to the Mediterranean. "The presence of the fleet in the Pacific at this time," Hull reminds the ambassador, "is a very practical contribution to the maintenance of peace in the Pacific."

            U.S. Minister in Uruguay Edwin C. Wilson reports "deteriorating" situation in Montevideo in telegram to Secretary of State Hull. Wilson describes the Uruguayan government as "well‑meaning but weak, undecided and confused," with things "drifting" and "people... climbing on the Nazi band wagon." Wilson also warns that an "armed movement is a possibility" (see 31 May).

Friday, 31 May 1940

            U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Norman Armour and U.S. Minister in Uruguay Edwin C. Wilson confer in Montevideoabout the deteriorating situation in Uruguay, and jointly suggest (in telegram to Secretary of State Hull) that "if the situation in the Far East permits," sending a "large U.S. naval force, 40 or 50 vessels...to the east coast of South America." A naval visit of that nature, the diplomats believe "would strengthen the position of those who desire to combat Nazism, as well as restore the confidence of those who are now wavering" and that the stationing of a U.S. naval squadron "more or less permanently in these waters would be an added assurance that we are prepared to give effective and immediate assistance if required."

            In reply to U.S. Minister in Uruguay Wilson's telegram of the previous day, Secretary of State Hull informs the envoy in Montevideo that President Roosevelt has ordered heavy cruiser Quincy (CA‑39) to proceed immediately to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and thence directly to Montevideo for "friendly visits of courtesy" (see 12 June).

            Chief of the Division of the American Republics (Laurence Duggan) of the State Department suggests to Undersecretary of State Welles that President Roosevelt's decision "to detach two or three cruisers to go down the east coast [of South America]" be made public "in order to put a little iron in the veins of our friends in those countries."