27 Wednesday
Warsaw falls; Poland surrenders unconditionally to Germany and the USSR. After the fall of Poland, the war on the western front degenerates into a stalemate, sometimes derisively called the sitzkrieg (“sitting war”) after the blitzkrieg that had crushed Polish resistance in September.
Commandant of the Coast Guard informs Commander of the Boston Division that upon withdrawal of destroyers from the Grand Banks Patrol, the patrol will be maintained by two Campbell-class 327-foot cutters.
U.S. freighter Executive is detained by French authorities at Casablanca, French Morocco (see 29 September).
28 Thursday
Hawaiian Detachment, U.S. Fleet, is established in response to Japan’s continuing undeclared war against China that has been under way since 7 July 1937. The establishment of the Hawaiian Detachment, to be based at Pearl Harbor, necessitates changing the schedules of the supply ships and oilers needed to provide logistics support.
29 Friday
Poland is partitioned by Germany and the Soviet Union.
U.S. freighter Executive, detained at Casablanca, French Morocco, since 27 September, is released by French authorities, provided that she proceed to Bizerte, Tunisia.
British warships operating on the Northern Patrol continue to stop neutral merchantman; between this date and 12 October, 63 vessels are stopped, of which 20 are detained at Kirkwall for the inspection of their cargoes.
Battleship Arizona (BB 39) engineering plant is sabotaged, San Pedro, California. A thorough FBI investigation into the occurrence concludes that the deed was done to embarrass certain ship’s officers rather than cause serious damage.
30 Saturday
Rear Admiral Hayne Ellis relieves Rear Admiral Alfred W. Johnson as Commander Atlantic Squadron on board the squadron’s flagship, battleship Texas (BB 35).
Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews (Commander Scouting Force) assumes command of Hawaiian Detachment, breaking his flag in heavy cruiser Indianapolis (CA 35). Andrews will shift his flag to carrier Enterprise (CV 6) on 3 October prior to the detachment’s move to its operating base (see 5 October).
European war again comes to the Americas: German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee stops and sinks British steamship Clement 75 miles southeast of Pernambuco, Brazil, 09°05′S, 34°05′W (see 1 and 5 October).
U.S. freighters Ethan Allen and Ipswich, detained by British authorities since 20 September, are released. Cargo destined for Bremen and Hamburg, Germany, however, is seized and taken off Ipswich.
OCTOBER
1 Sunday
As of this date, the U.S. Navy consists of 396 commissioned ships divided among the major U.S. Fleet commands afloat: Battle Force (Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, and Aircraft), Submarine Force, and Base Force; Scouting Force (Cruisers and Aircraft); Atlantic Squadron; Asiatic Fleet; Special Service Squadron; and Squadron 40-T. There are 175 district craft in service in the following naval districts: First (headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts), Third (New York, New York), Fourth (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Fifth (Norfolk, Virginia), Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth (Charleston, South Carolina), Ninth (Great Lakes, Illinois), Eleventh (San Diego, California), Twelfth (San Francisco, California), Thirteenth (Seattle, Washington), Fourteenth (Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii), Fifteenth (Balboa, Canal Zone), and Sixteenth (Cavite, Philippine Islands). Vessels not in commission (but including those ordered recommissioned incident to the expansion of the fleet) number 151; five district craft are carried as not in service.8
Word of German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee’s sinking of British freighter Clement reaches British Admiralty, which begins disposition of ships to meet the threat posed by the surface raider in the South Atlantic (see 5 October).
2 Monday
Act of Panama is approved by Conference of Foreign Ministers of American Republics meeting in Panama City, establishing a Pan-American neutrality zone 300 miles wide off the coasts of the United States and Latin America.
German government notifies the United States that merchant vessels must submit to visit and search, and that neutral merchant vessels refrain from suspicious actions when sighting German men-of-war and that they stop when summoned to do so. Maritime Commission and State and Navy Departments representatives who meet to contemplate the request consider it proper and should be complied with.
Chief of Naval Operations instructs all planning agencies within the naval establishment to accord precedence to the preparation of ORANGE (Japan) war plans.
3 Tuesday
River gunboat Tutuila (PR 4) is damaged when she is accidentally rammed by Chungking Ferry Boat Co. Ferry No. 2 at Chungking, China.
Norwegian motor vessel Höegh Transporter is sunk by mine off St. John Island, entrance to Singapore Harbor; the two Americans among the passengers survive, one is uninjured.
4 Wednesday
U.S. Naval Attaché in Berlin reports that Gröss-admiral Erich Raeder, Commander in Chief of the German Navy, has informed him of a plot wherein U.S. passenger liner Iroquois, which had sailed from Cobh, Ireland, with 566 American passengers on 3 October, would be sunk (ostensibly by the British) as she neared the east coast of the United States under “Athenia circumstances” for the apparent purpose of arousing anti-German feeling. Raeder gives credence to his source in neutral Ireland as being “very reliable” (see 5, 8, and 11 October).
Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews (Commander Hawaiian Detachment) (center, foreground), calls upon Major General Charles D. Herron, USA (Commander Hawaiian Department) at Fort Shafter, Oahu, circa October 1939, along with his type commanders: Rear Admirals John H. Newton, Royal E. Ingersoll, and Ralston S. Holmes. (NHC, NH 90928)
Battleship West Virginia (BB 48) undergoes availability, Puget Sound (Washington) Navy Yard, 9 October 1939. Heavy cruiser Chicago (CA 29) is moored on opposite side of pier while light cruiser Brooklyn (CL 40) lies in background (right); both cruisers appear to be airing bedding. Structure visible beyond Brooklyn’s after superstructure is the unique airship mooring mast of oiler Patoka (AO 9). (Author’s Collection)
U.S. freighter Black Hawk, detained by British authorities since 19 September, is released.
5 Thursday
Hawaiian Detachment is formed and sent to its new operating base, Pearl Harbor, T.H.; carrier Enterprise (CV 6) (flagship), two heavy cruiser divisions, two destroyer squadrons and a light cruiser flagship, a destroyer tender, and a proportionate number of small auxiliaries make up the force.
Navy Department informs U.S. passenger liner Iroquois of word received late the previous day concerning the plot to sink the ship as she nears the east coast. “As a purely precautionary measure,” President Roosevelt announces this day, “a Coast Guard vessel and several navy ships from the [neutrality] patrol will meet the Iroquois at sea and will accompany her to an American port” (see 8 and 11 October).
British Admiralty and French Ministry of Marine form eight “hunting groups” in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to counter the threat posed by German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee. That same day, the object of that attention, Admiral Graf Spee, captures British freighter Newton Beech in the South Atlantic at 09°35′S, 06°30′W.
U.S.