On The Week of 11 – 17 February 1940

US NAVY

Sunday, 11 February 1940

            U.S. Antarctic Service West Base main building is completed sufficiently to permit occupation. Over the next two months, the base‑‑three buildings connected to an elaborate system of tunnels and caches‑‑is finished by the time the sun sets for the winter on 21 April.

Monday, 12 February 1940

            War again comes to the Americas: British heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire stops German freighter Wakama 12 miles off Cabo Frio, Brazil; Wakama's crew scuttles her so that their ship will not fall into British hands (see 16 March).

            U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Jefferson Caffery reports to Secretary of State Hull on 20 March 1940 that the Brazilian government’s protesting Dorsetshire's stopping Wakama had not pleased the British. The British maintained that they were protecting Brazilian commerce. "Indeed you are not," the Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs Oswaldo Aranharetorts, "you are definitely not protecting our commerce by maintaining your warships off our coast. It is apparent to me that your blockade of Germany is plainly ineffective. If it were effective, you could stop the German boats [sic] on the other side before they entered German ports."

Tuesday, 13 February 1940

            U.S. freighter Exford, detained at Gibraltar by British authorities since 5 February, is released.

Wednesday, 14 February 1940

            U.S. passenger liner Manhattan is detained at Gibraltar for several hours by British authorities but allowed to proceed; not as fortunate is freighter Exermont, which is also detained there (see 16 February).

Thursday, 15 February 1940

            President Roosevelt embarks in heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA‑37) at Pensacola, Florida, for a cruise to Panama and the west coast of Central America to discuss Pan‑American defense and to inspect the Panama Canal.

            Destroyer Goff (DD‑247) collides with and sinks harbor tug Wicomico (YT‑26) in Hampton Roads, off Naval Operating Base, Norfolk. Goff, her bow damaged in the mishap, rescues Wicomico's 11‑man crew.

Friday, 16 February 1940

            U.S. freighter Excalibur is detained for several hours by British authorities at Gibraltar but is released; freighter Exermont, detained since 14 February, is allowed to proceed as well.

            British destroyer HMS Cossack violates Norwegian territorial waters, boards German tanker Altmark in Jøssing fjord, and recovers 303 merchant seamen from ships destroyed by German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee during her commerce‑raiding activities.

Saturday, 17 February 1940

            U.S. freighter Exhibitor is detained by British authorities at Gibraltar (see 21 February).