Light cruiser St. Louis (CL 49), with Greenslade Board embarked, departs Hamilton, Bermuda, for Norfolk, Virginia (see 27 October).
27 Sunday
Light cruiser St. Louis (CL 49) arrives at Norfolk, Virginia, thus winding up her mission transporting the Greenslade Board to evaluate base sites acquired from the British in exchange for the provision of destroyers.
28 Monday
Italy invades Greece.
Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA 28) arrives at Montevideo, Uruguay, as she continues to “show the flag” in Latin American waters (see 3 November).
30 Wednesday
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 auxiliary.
31 Thursday
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.
NOVEMBER
1 Friday
Atlantic Squadron (Rear Admiral Hayne Ellis) is renamed Patrol Force U.S. Fleet.
Submarine Force Scouting Force, ceases to exist; in its stead are two type commands: Submarines Scouting Force Pacific Fleet and Submarines Atlantic Fleet. Rear Admiral Wilhelm L. Friedell becomes Commander Submarines Scouting Force.
Naval Air Station, Alameda, California, is established, Captain Frank R. McCrary in command.
German auxiliary minelayer Passat completes laying barrage off Australian coast in Bass Strait (see 7 and 8 November).
2 Saturday
Rear Admiral John W. Greenslade arrives in Fort-de-France, Martinique, to confer with Vice Admiral Georges A. M. J. Robert on the economic distress afflicting Martinique and Guadeloupe, French West Indies, and on the status of French warships and aircraft there (see 3 November).
3 Sunday
Typhoon devastates Guam, M.I., rendering the U.S. Navy Yard at Piti a shambles, damaging the Marine Barracks, blowing away dwellings and poultry, destroying crops, and completely disrupting the lives of the native farmers; it also reduces the Pan American Airways hotel to “kindling wood.” In addition, one of the recently arrived district patrol craft (YP 16 or YP 17) is sunk; dredge YM 13, being used to dredge a channel near Sumay, Guam, is blown ashore. Greek freighter Axios, in the harbor for repairs, parts her moorings at the height of the typhoon, and despite the fact that she possesses neither harbor chart nor pilot miraculously escapes foundering on nearby reefs. Governor of Guam (Captain George J. McMillin) later praises the people of the island for their “cheerful willingness and unremitting effort . . . to repair or replace their homes” that reflected “character of which any group . . . might be proud.”
Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA 28) departs Montevideo, Uruguay, for Buenos Aires, Argentina, as she continues to “show the flag” in Latin American waters (see 4 November).
Rear Admiral John W. Greenslade departs Fort-de-France, Martinique, after concluding talks with Vice Admiral Georges A. M. J. Robert. Among Admiral Greenslade’s recommendations are that every effort be made to alleviate the distress of the inhabitants by easing restrictions on frozen assets to allow for purchase of food, medical supplies, and gasoline for automobiles and trucks; that the naval observer and U.S. vice consul maintain careful and complete liaison with Vice Admiral Robert; that a patrol plane make daily visits to Fort-de-France to improve communications and survey the situation from the air; and that the patrols off Martinique and Guadeloupe, French West Indies, be continued.
German freighter Helgoland, which had departed Colombian waters on 24 October, skirts the Antilles near St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, in her bid for freedom (see 30 November).
4 Monday
Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA 28) arrives at Buenos Aires, Argentina (see 12 November).
5 Tuesday
President Roosevelt, in his bid for a third term, defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie for the presidency.
7 Thursday
British freighter Cambridge is sunk by mine (laid by German auxiliary minelayer Passat on 31 October–1 November) off Wilson’s Promontory, Australia (see 8 November).
8 Friday
Admiral Nomura Kichasaburo is appointed Japanese Ambassador to the United States.
U.S. freighter City of Rayville is sunk by a mine (laid by German auxiliary minelayer Passat on 31 October–1 November) east of Cape Otway, Bass Strait, Australia; City of Rayville is first U.S. merchant ship sunk in World War II. Third Engineer Mack B. Bryan, who drowns during the abandonment, is the first merchant marine casualty of World War II. The other 37 crewmen (one of whom is injured) reach safety at Apollo Bay.
11 Monday
Twenty-one FAA Swordfish TSR (torpedo spotting reconnaissance) planes, flown by 16 crews from carrier HMS Illustrious (No. 815 and No. 819 Squadrons) and five crews from HMS Eagle (No. 813 and No. 824 Squadrons), launched from Illustrious, begin night attack against Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy (Operation JUDGMENT) (see 12 November).
12 Tuesday
British attack (Operation JUDGMENT) against Italian fleet at Taranto concludes. At the cost of two Swordfish lost (one crew is captured), battleships Littorio and Caio Duilio are damaged and Conte de Cavour sunk; heavy cruiser Trento and destroyer Libeccio are hit by dud bombs. Battleships Vittorio Veneto, Andrea Doria, and Julio Cesare sail for Naples; heavy units of the Italian Fleet will not base at Taranto until May 1941. Word of the Taranto raid is received in the Navy Department with “great satisfaction.” Secretary of the Navy William Franklin (Frank) Knox asks the Special Naval Observer in London, Rear Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, to “learn more details of how the attack was carried out, especially as to what extent aerial torpedoes were used.” Secretary Knox tells Ghormley the successful operation “did not a little to promote a most optimistic attitude hereabouts.”24
Heavy cruiser Louisville (CA 28) departs Buenos Aires, Argentina, for Santos, Brazil, as she continues her goodwill cruise in Latin American waters (see 15 November).
Six Douglas B-18As (27th Reconnaissance Squadron) fly over San Juan, Puerto Rico, 5 November 1940. Ships in harbor beyond include destroyers Moffett (DD 362), Rowan (DD 405), and Trippe (DD 403), and small seaplane tender Gannet (AVP 8). (NASM 20330 A.C.)
13 Wednesday
Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles, on the strength of a report that French battleships Richelieu (then at Dakar) and Jean Bart (then at Casablanca) were to be moved, perhaps to Toulon, France (within the German sphere of influence), requests the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim in Spain, H. Freeman Matthews, to let the appropriate French authorities know that the U.S. government would be prepared to contemplate purchase of both capital ships if the French government were willing to dispose of them with the agreement that they would not be used in