Undeclared Naval War in the Atlantic 1941
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 photo from Naval Historical Center |
Sept. 11 - US freighter "Montana" sunk en route to Iceland, none killed
Sept. 19 - armed US-Panama freighter "Pink Star" sunk en route to Iceland with cargo of food
Sept. 27 - US-Panamanian oil tanker "I.C. White" sunk en route to South Africa, 3 killed
Oct. 9 - FDR seeks revision of 1939 Neutrality Act to arm merchant ships
Oct. 16 - US tanker "W.C. Teagle" sunk and U.S.-Panama freighter "Bold Venture" sunk
Oct. 17 - US destroyer "Kearny" torpedoed and damaged with 11 killed inside Security Zone
Oct. 19 - U.S. freighter "Lehigh" sunk in South Atlantic
Oct. 27 - FDR Navy Day speech - "I have in my possession a secret map made in Germany by Hitler's government-by the planners of the new world order. It is a map of South America and a part of Central America, as Hitler proposes to reorganize it." (but the map was a fake from the British Secret Service)
Oct. 30 - U.S.-Panama armed tanker "Salinas" torpedoed and damaged
Oct. 31 - U.S. destroyer "Reuben James" sunk inside Security Zone, 115 killed
Nov. 13 - House approves Neutrality Act revision
- merchant ships may be armed
- U.S. ships may enter combat zones
- U.S. ships may enter belligerent ports
Nov. 24 - U.S. Army to occupy bauxite-rich Dutch Guiana
Nov. 30 - Hearst newsreel "Roosevelt Warns Nation Shooting Has Started."
December Disaster
Japan Victorious
America Responds
Mobilization
Conferences of WWII
Sources:
- Bailey, Thomas. Diplomatic History of the American People. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969.