31 Wednesday
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) reach Bahia, Brazil (see 5 August).
British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, in a telegram sent from the U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James (Joseph P. Kennedy) to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, again asks President Roosevelt for the loan of destroyers. In the previous 10 days, 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.”
AUGUST
1 Thursday
Navy establishes Alaskan Sector as a military command within the Thirteenth Naval District.
2 Friday
President Roosevelt and his cabinet have “long discussion” in cabinet meeting concerning “ways and means to sell directly or indirectly” 50 or 60 destroyers to the British. There is no dissent “that the survival of the British Isles under German attack might very possibly depend on their [the British] getting these destroyers.” All present agree that legislation to accomplish that goal is necessary.
3 Saturday
USSR annexes Lithuania as a Soviet Socialist Republic.
Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt relieves Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox Jr. as Commander Special Service Squadron on board gunboat Erie (PG 50).
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) depart Buenos Aires, Argentina, for Santos, Brazil (see 6 August).
5 Monday
Chief of Naval Operations establishes general ground rules to govern the exchange of scientific and technical information with the British mission under Sir Henry Tizard; arrival of the Tizard Mission begins the Anglo-American effort to jointly develop a wide range of weapons, sensors, and the technical equipment during the war.
Lord Lothian, British Ambassador to the United States, provides President Roosevelt with a note concerning the facilities that the British are prepared to “extend to the United States Government.”
Rear Admiral John W. Greenslade and French Vice Admiral Georges A. M. J. Robert conclude agreement concerning status of Vichy French warships and aircraft in French West Indies. Ships in question are carrier Bearn, light cruiser Emile Bertin, training cruiser Jeanne d’Arc, and auxiliary cruisers Esterelle, Quercy, and Barfleur; aircraft are 44 SBC-4s, 15 Hawk 75s (export version of USAAC P-36), and six Belgian Brewster fighters (export version of USN F2A) (see 2 and 3 November).
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) depart Bahia for Pernambuco, Brazil (see 9 August).
6 Tuesday
U.S. Army transport American Legion reaches Petsamo, Finland, to embark American nationals returning to the United States from European countries (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands) in which they had been residing (see 16 August).
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) reach Santos, Brazil (see 9 August).
9 Friday
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) reach Pernambuco, Brazil (see 13 August).
Gunboat Erie (PG 50) (Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, Commander Special Service Squadron, embarked) departs Panama Canal Zone for a goodwill visit to Ecuador (see 12 August).
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) depart Santos, Brazil, for Rio de Janeiro (see 10 August).
10 Saturday
President Roosevelt inspects Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Navy Yard and then cruises in presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25), to Nahant, Massachusetts, escorted by destroyer Mayrant (DD 402), and then to Boston Navy Yard, which the Chief Executive inspects as well (see 11 and 12 August).
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) reach Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (see 14 August).
Japanese naval blockade of coast of China is extended to South China.
11 Sunday
Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25) (with President Roosevelt embarked), escorted by destroyer Mayrant (DD 402), proceeds from Boston Navy Yard to Mattapoisett, Massachusetts (see 12 August).
12 Monday
Presidential yacht Potomac (AG 25) (with President Roosevelt embarked), escorted by destroyer Mayrant (DD 402), proceeds from Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, to Newport, Rhode Island. There the Chief Executive, accompanied by Secretary of the Navy William Franklin (Frank) Knox, Senator David I. Walsh, and Rear Admiral Edward C. Kalbfus, inspects the Torpedo Station and the Naval Training Station. Later the same day, the President reembarks in Potomac and cruises to the Submarine Base at New London, observing submarine operations en route. Roosevelt inspects the base and the nearby facilities of the Electric Boat Company before reembarking in Potomac for the final leg of the voyage to the Washington Navy Yard, which is reached later the same day.
Gunboat Erie (PG 50) (Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, Commander Special Service Squadron, embarked) arrives at Guayaquil, Ecuador, for a goodwill visit.
13 Tuesday
President Roosevelt confers with Secretary of the Navy William Franklin (Frank) Knox, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, and Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles concerning the transfer of destroyers to Britain. Consequently, Roosevelt informs British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill (in a telegram sent from Acting Secretary of State Welles to U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James Joseph P. Kennedy) that among other items previously sought “it may be possible to furnish to the British Government . . . at least 50 destroyers.” Roosevelt states, though, that such aid could only be given provided that “the American People and the Congress frankly recognized in return . . . the national defense and security of the United States would be enhanced.” The President thus insists that (1) should British waters be rendered untenable the British Fleet would be sent to other parts of the Empire (and neither turned over to the Germans nor sunk) and (2) that the British government would grant authorization to use Newfoundland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad, and British Guiana as naval and air bases, and to acquire land there through 99-year leases to establish those bases (see 15 August).
Commander in Chief Asiatic Fleet (Admiral Thomas C. Hart) shifts flag from heavy cruiser Augusta (CA 31) to submarine Porpoise (SS 172), Tsingtao, China, and travels to Shanghai, arriving the next day and transferring to yacht Isabel (PY 10). It is the first time a CINCAF (a submariner himself) has taken passage in a submarine in this fashion.
Heavy cruisers Wichita (CA 45) (Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens) and Quincy (CA 39) depart Pernambuco, Brazil, for Montevideo, Uruguay (see 23 August).
14 Wednesday
Destroyers Walke (DD 416) and Wainwright (DD 419) depart Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for Bahia (see 15 August).
15 Thursday
British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill responds, encouraged and grateful, to President Roosevelt’s telegram of 13 August; “the worth of every destroyer that you can spare to us is measured in rubies.” The “moral value of this fresh aid from your Government and your people at this critical time will be very great and widely felt.”
Assistant Chief of Naval Operations Rear Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, Major General Delos C. Emmons (USAAC), and Brigadier General George V. Strong (USA) arrive in London for informal staff conversations with British officers.
Naval Air Station, Miami, Florida, is established, Commander Gerald F. Bogan in command.