In the Month of October 1940

Tuesday, 1 October 1940

US NAVY

            Coast Guard cutter Campbell reports to Chief of Naval Operations for duty. She will then proceed to Lisbon, Portugal (see 18 and 22 October).

Wednesday, 2 October 1940

            Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49), with Greenslade Board embarked, arrives at Guantanamo Bay (see 19 October).

Saturday, 5 October 1940

            Secretary of the Navy Knox places all Organized Reserve divisions and aviation squadrons of the Organized Reserve on short notice for call to active duty and grants authority to call fleet reservists as necessary. Before this date, Naval Reserve personnel had been ordered to active duty on a voluntary basis only.

            Fourth group of ships involved in the destroyers‑for‑bases agreement‑‑Branch (DD‑197), Hunt (DD‑194), Mason (DD‑191), Satterlee (DD‑190), Laub (DD‑263), Aulick (DD‑258), Edwards (DD‑265) and McLanahan (DD‑264) ‑‑arrive at Halifax, Nova Scotia (see 6 October).

US MARINE CORPS

            Secretary of the Navy puts all organized Marine reserve ground units and aviation squadrons on short notice for call to active duty.

Sunday, 6 October 1940

US NAVY

            Fourth group of ships involved in the destroyers‑for‑bases agreement are turned over to Royal Navy crews at Halifax. Branch (DD‑197) becomes HMS Beverley, Hunt (DD‑194) becomes HMS Broadway, Mason (DD‑191) becomes HMS Broadwater, Satterlee (DD‑190) becomes HMS Belmont, Laub (DD‑263) becomes HMS Burwell, Aulick (DD‑258) becomes HMS Burnham, Edwards (DD‑265) becomes HMS Buxton, and McLanahan (DD‑264) becomes HMS Bradford.

Monday, 7 October 1940

            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 as a deterrent to Japan. He will depart to return to the fleet on 11 October (see 1 February 1941).

            Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA‑28) arrives at Recife, Brazil, as she begins her goodwill cruise to Latin American ports.

Tuesday, 8 October 1940

            Legislation approved authorizes the appointment to commissioned rank in the Line of the Regular Navy of those Naval Reserve officers who receive their commissions upon graduation from the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps.

            United States advises American citizens to leave the Far East (see 14 October).

            Japan protests U.S. embargo on aviation gasoline and scrap metal.

US MARINE CORPS

            U. S. advises its citizens to leave Far East.

Thursday, 10 October 1940

US NAVY

            Auxiliary Bear (AG‑29) sails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the Antarctic.

Saturday, 12 October 1940

            Commander Atlantic Squadron (Rear Admiral Hayne Ellis), in destroyer Rhind (DD‑404) visits Port‑au‑Prince, Haiti. The timely goodwill visit came in the wake of an extensive cabinet shakeup by the Haitian president the previous day.

            Rear Admiral Ellis later wrote that Rhind's visit had a "very soothing effect on the minds of the people" in the Haitian port.

            Carrier Wasp (CV‑7), off the Virginia capes, launches 24 USAAC P‑40s and 9 O‑47s to gather data on comparative take‑off runs of naval and army aircraft. For the first time Army planes are flown off a Navy carrier.

Sunday, 13 October 1940

            Surveying ship Bowditch (AG‑30) arrives at Placentia Harbor, Newfoundland, to make hydrographic surveys, having transported army engineers who will make a shore requirements survey.

Monday, 14 October 1940

            Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA‑28) departs Recife, Brazil, for Rio de Janeiro, as she continues "showing the flag" in Latin American waters.

            Department of State announces that the U.S. passenger liners Monterey, Mariposa, and Washington are being sent to the Far East to repatriate American citizens from that region in view of prevailing "abnormal conditions" there. This move is made because of the shortage of accommodations on the ships already engaged in the Far East trade. Monterey is to go to Yokohama, Japan, and Shanghai, China; Mariposa will proceed to Shanghai and Chinwangtao, China, and Kobe, Japan.

Tuesday, 15 October 1940

            Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida is established, Captain Charles P. Mason in command.

Wednesday, 16 October 1940

            Sixteen million men register for the draft under Selective Training and Service Act.

            Fifth group of ships involved in the destroyers‑for‑ bases agreement‑‑Twiggs (DD‑127), Philip (DD‑76), Evans (DD‑78), Wickes (DD‑75), McCalla (DD‑253), Rodgers (DD‑170), Conner (DD‑72), Conway (DD‑70), Stockton (DD‑73) and Yarnall (DD‑143) ‑‑arrive at Halifax, Nova Scotia (see 23 October).

Friday, 18 October 1940

            Coast Guard cutter Campbell arrives at Lisbon, Portugal (see 22 October). Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA‑28) arrives at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as she continues "showing the flag" in Latin American waters.

Saturday, 19 October 1940

            Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49), with Greenslade Board embarked, departs Guantanamo Bay for San Juan, Puerto Rico (see 20 October).

Sunday, 20 October 1940

            Oiler Ramapo (AO‑12) delivers district patrol craft YP‑16 and YP‑17 at Apra Harbor to augment the local defenses at Guam.

            Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49), with Greenslade Board embarked, arrives at San Juan, Puerto Rico (see 21 October).

Monday, 21 October 1940

            Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49), with Greenslade Board embarked, departs San Juan for return visit to' Hamilton, Bermuda (see 24 October).

Tuesday, 22 October 1940

            Squadron 40‑T (Rear Admiral David M. LeBreton) is disbanded. Coast Guard cutter Campbell assumes "to a certain extent the duties previously performed by Squadron 40‑T.

Wednesday, 23 October 1940

            Japan gives one‑year notice of abrogation of North Pacific Sealing Convention of 1911.

            Fifth group of ships involved in the destroyers‑for‑bases agreement are turned over to Royal Navy crews at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Twiggs (DD‑127) becomes HMS Leamington, Philip (DD‑76) becomes HMS Lancaster, Evans (DD‑78) becomes HMS Mansfield, Wickes (DD‑75) becomes HMS Montgomery, McCalla (DD‑253) becomes HMS Stanley, Rodgers (DD‑170) becomes HMS Sherwood, Conner (DD‑72) becomes HMS Leeds, Conway (DD‑70) becomes HMS Lewes, Stockton (DD‑73) becomes HMS Ludlow, and Yarnall (DD‑143) becomes HMS Lincoln.

Thursday, 24 October 1940

            Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA‑28) departs Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for Montevideo, Uruguay, as she continues to "show the flag" in Latin American waters.

            Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49), with Greenslade Board embarked, arrives at Hamilton, Bermuda (see 25 October).

            German freighter Helgoland sails from Puerto Colombia, Colombia; despite the efforts of destroyers Bainbridge (DD‑246), Overton (DD‑239), and Sturtevant (DD‑240) to pursue her over the ensuing days, Helgoland will make good her attempt to escape the confines of the Caribbean (see 3 November and 30 November).

Friday, 25 October 1940

            Japanese naval land attack planes (13th Kokutai) raiding Chungking, China, follow a course that takes them directly over the U.S. Embassy and river gunboat Tutuila (PR‑4). Due to what is later explained as a malfunctioning release mechanism, Japanese bombs fall north, east, and west of the embassy and the gunboat, the nearest falling 300 yards away. In response to American protests, Japanese naval authorities will advise the air commander in the region "to take necessary steps to prevent the recurrence of such incidents" (see 15 June and 30 July 1941).

            Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49), with Greenslade Board embarked, departs Hamilton, Bermuda, for Norfolk (see 27October).

Sunday, 27 October 1940

            Light cruiser St. Louis (CL‑49) arrives at Norfolk, thus winding up her mission transporting the Greenslade Board to evaluate base sites acquired from the British in exchange for the provision of destroyers.

Monday, 28 October 1940

            Italy invades Greece.

            Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA‑28) arrives at Montevideo, Uruguay, as she continues to "show the flag" in Latin American waters.

Wednesday, 30 October 1940

            Because of delay in the arrival of crews assigned to the last of the destroyers to be transferred to the Royal Navy, Commander Destroyers, Atlantic Squadron (Captain Ferdinand L. Reichmuth) departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, in destroyer tender Denebola (AD‑12). Destroyer Russell (DD‑414) accompanies the tender.

Thursday, 31 October 1940

            British forces occupy Crete in response to Italian invasion of Greece.

            German auxiliary minelayer Passat begins laying mines in Bass Strait, the body of water between Australia and Tasmania (see 1, 7, and 8 November).

            German freighter Rio Grande sails from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; she eludes the Neutrality Patrol and ultimately reaches Bordeaux, France, six weeks later.