8 Saturday
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Niblack (DD 424) damages Norwegian freighter Astra in collision, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Naval Operating Base, Iceland, is established; Rear Admiral James L. Kauffman is the first commandant.
9 Sunday
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.4 (Captain Alan G. Kirk) departs Argentia, Newfoundland, to screen 31-ship convoy HX 159. It is the first escort task unit that includes in its composition a Coast Guard cutter, Campbell. The convoy will not be attacked by U-boats, although the presence of whales and blackfish results in attacks on sound contacts on five occasions (see 11, 12, and 13 November).
10 Monday
ATLANTIC. U.S.-escorted convoy WS 12 (Rear Admiral Arthur B. Cook), formed around carrier Ranger (CV 4) and transporting more than 20,000 British soldiers (see 2 November) in six U.S. Navy transports, sails from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Destroyer Ericsson (DD 440), screening convoy HX 157, depth charges sound contact later evaluated as a “doubtful” submarine.
PACIFIC. Commander in Chief Asiatic Fleet (Admiral Thomas C. Hart) receives permission to withdraw river gunboats from the Yangtze and USMC forces from China.
11 Tuesday
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Edison (DD 439), en route to rendezvous with convoy ON 34, depth charges sound contact.
Destroyer Decatur (DD 341), screening convoy HX 159, depth charges sound contact off the Grand Banks; it is later evaluated as a “doubtful” submarine.
12 Wednesday
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.3 (Commander Richard E. Webb) assumes escort duty for convoy ON 34.
Destroyer Decatur (DD 341), screening convoy HX 159, twice depth charges sound contacts that are later evaluated as “non-submarine.” Destroyer Badger (DD 126), depth charges sound contact that is later evaluated as perhaps Decatur’s wake. Coast Guard cutter Campbell reports sound contact and conducts search; she is joined by destroyer Livermore (DD 429).
13 Thursday
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Edison (DD 439), screening convoy ON 34 southwest of Iceland, depth charges sound contact.
Destroyer Decatur (DD 341), screening convoy HX 159, depth charges sound contact; although it is regarded as a good contact, the ensuing search yields no evidence of a submarine.
14 Friday
PACIFIC. Marines are ordered withdrawn from Shanghai, Peiping, and Tientsin, China.
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Benson (DD 421) and Niblack (DD 424), screening convoy ON 34, depth charge sound contacts.
Destroyer Edison (DD 439), en route to MOMP in TU 4.1.1 to screen convoy ON 35, attacks a sound contact southwest of Iceland at 62°53′N, 24°30′W.
15 Saturday
UNITED STATES. Army GHQ maneuvers begin in North and South Carolina. Two U.S. Navy (VB 8 and VS 8) and two Marine Corps (VMF 111 and VMF 121) squadrons take part in the large-scale war games.
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.1 (Captain Marion Y. Cohen) assumes escort duty for convoy ON 35 at the MOMP. There will be no U-boat attacks on the convoy, but nearly continuous heavy weather between 16 and 25 November results in 16 of the 26 ships straggling.
16 Sunday
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.5 (Commander William K. Phillips) clears Argentia, Newfoundland, to assume escort duty for convoy HX 160; between 17 and 28 November, heavy seas will cause varying degrees of damage to destroyers Mayo (DD 422), Nicholson (DD 442), Babbitt (DD 128), Leary (DD 158), and Schenck (DD 159). The convoy will not be attacked by U-boats (see 18–20 and 27 November).
17 Monday
UNITED STATES. Congress amends the Neutrality Act of 1939 by Joint Resolution; U.S. merchant ships can now be armed and can enter war zones.
Bureau of Navigation directs that naval district personnel who received Armed Guard training be assigned to Little Creek, Virginia, or San Diego, California, for further instruction. They will be transferred to Armed Guard centers at New York, New York, and Treasure Island, California, for assignment to merchant ships.
Special Japanese envoy Kurusu Saburo arrives in Washington, D.C., and confers with Secretary of State Cordell Hull.
ATLANTIC. Destroyers Benson (DD 421) and Edison (DD 439), screening convoy ON 34, depth charge submarine contacts.
TU 4.1.5 (Commander William K. Phillips) intercepts and joins convoy HX 160; although none of the destroyers in the task unit will be damaged by enemy action, all—Mayo (DD 422), Babbitt (DD 128), Leary (DD 158), Schenck (DD 159), and Nicholson (DD 442)—will suffer storm damage of varying degrees between this date and 28 November.
German blockade runner Odenwald, captured by light cruiser Omaha (CL 4) and destroyer Somers (DD 381) on 6 November, is escorted into San Juan, Puerto Rico, by Somers and turned over to U.S. authorities.
19 Wednesday
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Leary (DD 158), with TU 4.1.5, escorting convoy HX 160, depth charges a sound contact.
20 Thursday
GENERAL. Ambassador Nomura Kichasaburo presents Japan’s “final proposal” to keep peace in the Pacific.
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Nicholson (DD 442), with TU 4.1.5, escorting convoy HX 160, depth charges a sound contact at 50°30′N, 50°40′W.
21 Friday
UNITED STATES. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations mistakenly informs Naval Air Station, New York, of the imminent delivery of infantile paralysis serum from Navy Medical Supply Depot, Brooklyn, for further transport to Norfolk by 1000 on the following day and thence to Bermuda. It is soon discovered, however, that no such serum exists in Brooklyn or anywhere east of Milwaukee. Urgent ensuing search locates the needed serum in Milwaukee, whence it is flown to Chicago, where American Air Lines holds a plane to make the necessary connection for the flight to New York (see 22 November).
ATLANTIC. Lend-Lease is extended to Iceland.
PACIFIC. Destroyer Shaw (DD 373) and oiler Sabine (AO 25) are damaged in collision in Hawaiian Operating Area.
22 Saturday
UNITED STATES. Naval Air Station, New York, SNJ-2 delivers needed infantile paralysis serum to Norfolk, Virginia. It ultimately arrives in Bermuda on time.
23 Sunday
ATLANTIC. United States occupies Surinam, Dutch Guiana, pursuant to agreement with the Netherlands government to protect bauxite mines.
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.6 (Commander Gilbert C. Hoover) assumes escort duty for convoy HX 161; the convoy will not be attacked by U-boats during its passage (see 24 November).
24 Monday
ATLANTIC. Destroyer DuPont (DD 152) in North Atlantic with TU 4.1.6, escorting convoy HX 161, is damaged in collision with Norwegian tanker Thorshovdi.
British light cruiser HMS Dunedin is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U 124 north of Pernambuco, Brazil, at approximately 03°00′S, 26°00′W (see 27 November).
25 Tuesday
PACIFIC. Japanese troop transports en route to Malaya are sighted off Formosa.
Submarines Triton (SS 201) and Tambor (SS 198) arrive off Wake Island on simulated war patrols.