The Battle of Britain: Apart from a few isolated reconnaissance flights on the south and east coasts, and over one or two airbases, there was little Luftwaffe activity over Great Britain. Luftwaffe activity was also slight during the night.
The last few days had been hectic and tiring for all those that had taken part. Throughout the daylight hours of the 15th pilots and ground crews had been up since first light and worked nonstop until well into the hours of darkness. By the 16th, they would all have appreciated a rest but although not as intense a day as the day previous, it did turn out to be a busy one. Come the 17th August, everyone hoped for a break, for time to regather themselves, to relax and to many, to sleep and rest. For some unknown reason, their prayers were answered. Even though the 17th dawned an exceptional summers day, little wind and cloudless skies, but there was not a German aircraft in sight, the skies around the south coast were empty. Radar operators at many of the stations began to suspect that their masts or receivers were faulty, not a blip could be seen on any of them.
While Fighter Command were asking the question “Why? Why don’t they come?” Station Commanders took the opportunity to clean up their airfields. Biggin Hill, Manston, Brize Norton, Tangmere, Kenley and Hornchurch all had work to do in clearing up the mess caused by the bombing of the previous day.
But even though the pilots of Fighter Command were in need of a rest, so were the German bomber crews of Luftflotten 2 and 3. German commanders had pleaded for a rest for their battle weary crews, and this was granted. Taking advantage of this were the ground crews who repaired damaged aircraft, and replacement aircraft were supplied where needed. Many of the Ju 87 ‘Stuka’ aircraft were showing scars of battle damage and the Dorniers and Heinkels too were in desperate need of servicing and repair. Fighter Command had inflicted serious damage to many of the German aircraft, and if these aircraft were to perform, then there just no alternative, satisfactory repairs had to be made. New aircraft had been flown in, but these to had to go through a period of inspection before they could be sent in to actual combat.
Although ground crews managed to repair buildings, fill in holes and craters and repair damaged aircraft, it was with pilots that replacements could not keep up with losses. Over the last five days Fighter Command had lost sixty-eight valuable pilots killed or posted as missing. As well as this some seventy had been injured or wounded and would not return to action for many weeks, some not at all. Records show that since August 1st, only seventy replacements entered service with Fighter Command.
On the brighter side, 310 Squadron made up of Czechoslovakian pilots became operational. They were posted to Duxford. The language was a bit of a problem, on the ground it was not all that bad as there was always someone available to interpret, but in the air they talked in their own tongue over the RT and conveying instructions started to become a work of art. The same was to apply to the Poles later.
The Luftwaffe sent no major bombing operations on this day, only the occasional reconnaissance flight and Fighter Command did not even send out any fighters to intercept these either. There was no apparent reason for the lull, only that both sides, after the heavy engagements of the last few days both sides were in need of a rest. But for the Luftwaffe not to attempt any operation against Britain, it just proved the fact that they too were feeling the brunt of constant engagements and a day’s rest was the only way that they could regather and recompose themselves.
Day after day we were flying operational duties. The constant run of failures to achieve our goals of destroying our targets due to being constantly intercepted by British fighters was beginning to take its toll. Time and time again we tell our commanding officers that we must destroy the radar systems because we are always being met over the Channel by Spitfires and Hurricanes. The British pilots are very clever, they seem to be able to turn us around and we are forced to return to our bases, not only with bullet holes all over our aircraft, but with dead or injured crewmen that have to be attended to on the return flight.
“We became tired and exhausted, each new day brought new missions and then came the night operations. Man can only take so much, he is not a machine, although I think that our commanders thought differently. When the weather is too bad for flying, it is like a dream come true.”
- Oberfeldwebel Manfred Langer 4/KG3
Taking advantage of the lull in operations, Fighter Command found the badly needed precious time to catch up on general running repairs without hindrance of enemy bombing interfering with the cleanup, even if it was only for one day. Ventnor radar station appreciated the unexpected quiet, although more than one day was really needed to complete all repairs. Tangmere had been badly damaged and took advantage to fill in craters scattered all over the airfield, Brize Norton was also in the same boat. Broken communications were repaired and in many cases arrangements were made to rehouse pilots where accommodation areas had been badly damaged or destroyed. It was also an opportune time to move out the dead and injured. Wherever possible, the dead were given decent burials, while those suffering serious injuries were transferred to civilian hospitals. Most of the ground staff found the time to complete repairs instead of just doing a quick patch-up to the aircraft. It may have only been one day, but it was a day that was welcomed by all.
After dark, the Luftwaffe bombs East Suffolk, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire. Liverpool, Coventry, and Birmingham receive attention, with damage to the Liverpool docks. These are a prelude to the “Moonlight Sonata” raids of November. The Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton and the Avonmouth docks receive their usual bombing raids from over a dozen Heinkel He 111s of II,/KG 27. Overall, bombing accuracy is poor, a problem that afflicts both sides at night, but the Luftwaffe is working on that with new equipment.
The Luftwaffe is using radio signals to try to guide their night bombers – called X-Gerät, a successor to Knickebein – with little success. This involves three separate radio beams called “Rhine,” “Oder,” and “Elbe” which the navigators would hear at different points of the mission and use as course corrections. Results are good for the time being, but the British immediately deploy countermeasures (the Germans unwisely use 45 MHz, a BBC frequency, tipping the British off) of varying effect.
RAF Statistics for the day: 100 patrols were flown involving 303 aircraft. Luftwaffe casualties: Unknown – 2 confirmed.
RAF Casualties:
There were no casualties on August 17th, 1940
American Pilot Officer William Fiske perishes of wounds suffered on the 16th. He is the only American fighting in the RAF to perish during the Battle of Britain and is buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
RAF No. 1 Squadron, staffed by Canadian pilots, becomes operational. RAF No. 310 Squadron becomes operational, staffed by Czechoslovakian pilots, at RAF Duxford. With RAF Tangmere badly damaged in recent days, RAF No. 602 Squadron is moved nearby to Westhampnett.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 9 Blenheims on sea sweep and bombing in France during the day; 2 aircraft bombed targets in the Fecamp—Dieppe area. No losses.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 102 Blenheims, Hampdens and Wellingtons overnight to 5 targets in Germany, to airfields in Holland, Belgium and France, and minelaying. No losses. Although no aircraft was detailed to attack Brunswick, this city recorded its first raid of the war, with 4 Germans and 3 foreign workers killed. This is the first report of foreigners being killed in air raids. They were the forerunners of more than 5 million people — prisoners of war or civilians — who were brought to work in Germany under varying degrees of force during the war and subjected to all the hazards of Allied bombing of German cities. Their danger was more acute than that of German civilians because they were usually allocated poorer air-raid shelters. It is not known how many foreigners were killed in air raids but the number must be considerable; many individual reports from German cities give examples in raids later in these diaries. The Brunswick records, for example, show that, of 2,905 people killed in the city by R.A.F. and U.S.A.A.F. bombing in 40 wartime raids, 1,286 (44.3 percent) were foreigners; but this was probably an extreme example.
RAF Bomber Command raids Leuna in eastern Germany (just west of Leipzig), one of its more distant targets, during the night. It is home to the Leunawerke, a huge chemical plant, and is a key oil target due to its refinery. There also are other armaments works there. The Merseburg/Leuna area is amply protected by anti-aircraft guns, and missions there are among the least-favored by Allied bomber crews. The raid, like most early bombing raids, is inaccurate and hits some non-industrial targets.
Another Bomber Command raid, on Boulogne, drops 3 tons of incendiaries and other bombs. There also are the usual raids on individual Luftwaffe airfields throughout northwest Europe.
Adolf Hitler ordered a total blockade of Britain as a means of weakening the island prior to Operation SEA LION. The German government announced a “total blockade” of Great Britain:
“Germany, having repeatedly warned these [neutral] States not to send their ships into the waters around the British Isles, has now again requested, in a note, these governments to forbid their ships from entering the Anglo-German war zones. It is in the interest of these States themselves to accede to this German request as soon as possible. The Reich Government wishes to emphasize the following fact: The naval war in the waters around the British Isles is in full progress. The whole area had been mined.”
This is a highly risky strategy, as President Roosevelt is just waiting for any excuse to enter the war. A few sinkings of US ships would help him to build a case. However, focusing all of the Reich’s resources in the air and on the sea in one focused direction makes more sense strategically than a one-armed attack by the Luftwaffe against the RAF that it basically (especially as recent events have shown) cannot win.
Hitler justifies this as retaliating against a “British hunger blockade against German women and children.” This has more resonance than it might because of recent comments by US Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg (since recalled) on the same theme. One can view this change in strategy as a clear sign that the German high command views the Battle of Britain as going poorly.
The German government washed its hands of responsibility tonight for the safety of the U. S. ship American Legion, carrying Americans home from Petsamo, Finland. It said the United States government had declined to heed a German warning to keep the American Legion out of British waters mined today under a new, formally proclaimed total blockade of the sea around Britain, Conceivably, under the Germans’ own announced terms for the blockade, the American Legion might be subject to a bombing attack as soon as she appeared in British waters. Before the blockade was proclaimed, however, the government had said as an army ship of a neutral, the American Legion would not be molested by Germany.
The occupation authorities in France requisition (“donate”) all private watercraft.
Around this date, the Spéngelskrich (“War of the Pin-badges”) begins in occupied Luxembourg. Citizens wear patriotic lapel pins (think American flags) as an expression of defiance at the German authorities who are trying to eliminate any vestiges of Luxembourg as an independent state.
Greece partially mobilizes its armed forces in response to recent Italian provocations such as the sinking of the light cruiser Helle (Elli). A Greek investigation reveals fragments of an Italian torpedo in the wreckage of the Helle.
The British Admiral Cunningham sends a large task force, codename MB 2, centered around battleships HMS Malaya, Ramillies and Warspite and cruiser HMS Kent to bombard the Italian at Bardia, Libya (including nearby Fort Capuzzo). The bombardment commences at 06:58 and lasts for 22 minutes. Force A has the Warspite and Kent, and Force B has the Malaya and Ramillies.
The Italian artillery cannot reach the British battleships, which can stand far offshore and fire with impunity. The Italians under Marshal Graziani essentially abandon the fort after the attack. The Regia Aeronautica attacks the British flotilla without success and loses several planes.
It is a quiet day in Malta. The local government via the War Office authorizes increased local ground forces composed of volunteers, with tighter supervision. They also are unpaid but full members of His Majesty’s Armed Forces (else they could be shot as spies or partisans after an invasion). Governor-General Dobbie also urgently requests supplies.
The Italian forces under Lieutenant-General Carlo De Simone close up on the British blocking forces and begin attacks late in the morning. The Black Watch launches a successful bayonet charge to hold the position. Another Italian force at Bulhar, 40 miles west of Berbera, is approaching as well, but light cruiser HMS Ceres bombs the road and temporarily stops the advance. After dark, the Black Watch at Barkasan gives up its positions and marches to the transports at Berbera, where the evacuation is in its final stages.
The Italian General Staff announced in two bulletins today that Italy’s troops had decisively defeated the British forces in British Somaliland. All accounts agree that the conquest of Berbera and Somaliland is a matter of a few days, if that.
Winston Churchill has a somewhat unrealistic view of what could have been accomplished in British Somaliland. The Italian forces outnumber the colonial British forces, buttressed by a few elite formations such as the Black Watch, by a huge amount, and they also are better equipped with tanks, artillery, and aircraft. Churchill wants a victory or at least a successful defense under impossible circumstances that, of course, are part of his own creation.
After hearing of Churchill’s attitude, Middle East Commander General Wavell responds:
“A bloody butcher’s bill is not the sign of a good tactician.”
This is not a very political statement, and Wavell must understand this when he makes it.
Wavell, though, is absolutely correct and has handled the campaign with extreme competence (British casualties are minimal), but this incident starts turning the tactically challenged (but undeniably inspirational) Churchill against the extremely competent (but strategically overwhelmed) General Wavell. There are many in the British government, including Sir Alan Brooke, who view Churchill as a loose cannon when it comes to military strategy, and this is an example. To his credit, Churchill retains General Wavell in command despite the strategic setback, showing a high degree of maturity and even wisdom.
What is ironic given Churchill’s petulance is that the British defeat in British Somaliland could have been far, far worse. There are strong indications that the Italian aggressors have held back there (and perhaps at Malta) in hopes that a peace deal under discussion quietly at the Vatican might bear fruit.
The Duke of Windsor took the oath of office as governor of the Bahama islands today and promised his best efforts to help the colony reconcile its local interests with changed conditions imposed by the war. He remains under deep suspicion by other elements of the British government for alleged pro-German leanings.
Negotiations with Bulgaria were declared today to have been concluded with the cession by Rumania of all the Southern Dobruja, including the towns of Silistra on the Danube River and Balcic on the Black Sea.
The Parliament of the Kingdom of Afghanistan was established.
HMS Hermes began receiving repairs at Simonstown, South Africa for damage caused by the 10 Jul 1940 collision with armed merchant cruiser HMS Corfu.
Destroyer HMS Kipling and Polish destroyer ORP Burza departed Scapa Flow at 2130. Destroyer Kipling was to relieve Canadian destroyer HMCS Restigouche in convoy OA.200. Polish destroyer Burza was to meet convoy WN.8 in the Minches and provide additional escort to Rattray Head. Canadian destroyer Restigouche arrived at Scapa Flow at 2100/17th. She discharged oil fuel contaminated by seawater. The Canadian destroyer departed Scapa Flow at 0600/18th. At 1315 on the 18th, destroyer Restigouche relieved destroyer Kipling on convoy duties. Destroyer Kipling then returned to Scapa Flow.
At 0800, 12th Destroyer Flotilla was placed under the control of Captain A/S Belfast. Destroyers HMS Arrow, HMS Amazon, HMS Achates, and HMS Anthony formed an anti-submarine striking force in the Northwest Approaches.
Leading Airman E. G. Culley of 7 SFTS Peterborough was killed when his Hart spun in from low height and crashed at Deeping St Nicholas, near Spalding. Leading Airman CB Irving was also killed in the crash.
British steamer St Patrick (1922grt) was damaged in German bombing in St George’s Channel.
British steamer Yewkyle (824 ton) was damaged by German bombing in 52-27N, 05-45W.
Operation MB.2 was the bombardment of Bardia. Destroyers HMS Hyperion, HMS Ilex, HMS Juno, and HMS Hero departed Alexandria at noon on the 15th to sweep off Sollum Bay and join the main fleet at 1400/16th in 31-30N, 29-10E. Battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Malaya, HMS Ramillies, heavy cruiser HMS Kent, and destroyers HMS Hostile, HMS Hereward, HMAS Stuart, HMAS Waterhen, HMAS Vendetta, HMS Diamond, HMS Nubian, and HMS Mohawk departed Alexandria at 1030/16th. Bardia was bombarded from 0658 to 0720 by Force A with battleship Warspite, heavy cruiser Kent, destroyers Hyperion, Ilex, Hostile, Nubian, Mohawk, Diamond and Force B with battleships Malaya and Ramillies and destroyers Stuart, Waterhen, Vendetta, Juno, Hero, and Hereward. The Fleet arrived back at Alexandria on the 18th.
Destroyers HMS Griffin arrived at Gibraltar from England, escorted by destroyer HMS Velox, which joined from convoy HG.41.
Submarine HMS Rorqual, which departed Alexandria on the 4th, laid mines east of Tolmeita, Cyrenaica. The submarine arrived back at Alexandria on the 27th.
United States Naval Reserve Fleet operation. On 17 August, American destroyers USS Leary (DD-158, LCDR E. Watts) of the 53rd Destroyer Division of the 27th Destroyer Squadron, USS Hamilton (DD-141, LCDR T. C. Evans) of the 55th Destroyer Division of the 27th Destroyer Squadron, USS Broome (DD-210, LCDR J. Y. Dannenberg) of the 56th Destroyer Division of the 31st Destroyer Squadron, USS Reuben James (DD-245, LT H. L. Edwards) of the 62nd Destroyer Division of the 41st Destroyer Squadron, USS Shurbrick (DD-268, LCDR K. D. Dawson) of the 71st Destroyer Division of the 36th Destroyer Squadron, USS Baily (DD-269, Cdr E. H. Jones, CDD-72), USS Swasey (DD-273, LCDR B. D. Kelley), USS Meade (DD-274, LCDR C. A. Printup) of the 72nd Destroyer Division of the 36th Destroyer Squadron, and USS Bancroft (DD-256, LT E. S. Von Kleeck) of the 73rd Destroyer Division of the 36th Destroyer Squadron departed from New York for operations in the Caribbean south of Cuba.
On 17 August, American destroyers USS Cole (DD-155, LT C. W. Moses) and USS Dupont (DD-152, LT E. M. Waldron) of the 60th Destroyer Division of the 30th Destroyer Squadron and USS Hunt (DD-194, LCDR J. D. Hayes), USS Satterlee (DD-190, LCDR H. R. Demarest), USS Branch (DD-197, Cdr D. L. Ryan, CDD 68), and USS Mason (DD-191, LCDR C. A. Dillavou) of the 68th Destroyer Division of the 31st Destroyer Squadron departed from Philadelphia for the Caribbean.
On 18 August, American battleships USS New York (BB-34, Captain D. E. Barbey) and USS Arkansas (BB-33, Captain J. F. Hall, Jr) and training ship (former battleship) USS Wyoming (AG-17, Captain D. F. Patterson) departed from New York for the maneuvers.
Many of the destroyers employed in this fleet maneuver would join the Royal Navy over the next few months through Lend Lease.
Convoy FN.255 departed Southend. The convoy arrived in the Tyne on the 19th.
Convoy MT.143 departed Methil. The convoy arrived in the Tyne later that day.
Convoy FS.255 departed the Tyne, escorted by destroyer HMS Winchester and sloop HMS Weston. The convoy arrived at Southend on the 19th.
Wendell Willkie, a former Democrat, delivered his formal acceptance speech as the Republican nominee for president from his home in Elwood, Indiana. Wendell Willkie made a speech in his hometown of Elwood, Indiana formally accepting the Republican nomination for president. Willkie promised to return “to those same American principles that overcame German autocracy once before, both in business and in war, to out-distance Hitler in any contest he chooses in 1940 or after.” Willkie said that the reason for France’s defeat was because that country had become “absorbed in unfruitful political adventures and flimsy economy theories,” drawing a parallel to the Roosevelt Administration.
Wendell L. Willkie challenged President Roosevelt to a series of public debates on the major issues of the 1940 Presidential campaign. He also said he favored some form of selective military service as “the only democratic way in which to secure the trained and competent manpower we need for national defense.” He criticized the administration’s foreign policy and asserted the president has “courted a war for which the country is hopelessly unprepared and which it emphatically does not want.”
Cancellation of part of Great Britain’s war debt in exchange for leases on naval base sites in Britain’s Western Hemisphere possessions was advocated today by Senator Wheeler, Democrat, of Montana. Mr. Wheeler, who at times has been highly critical of Administration efforts to aid Great Britain, said it was his opinion that a deal making naval bases available to the United States in part payment on the war debts could not be regarded as an unneutral act, since it would involve only the strengthening of American defenses. He told reporters, however, that he was “glad to see that the President is not considering trading American destroyers for these naval bases and thereby weakening our own defenses.”
The President told his press conference yesterday that negotiations were under way with Great Britain for the acquisition of Western Hemisphere naval and air bases, but cautioned reporters not to speculate that a trade of destroyers was involved. Despite this, some usually well-informed legislators continued to insist privately that a destroyer deal was “in the mill” and might be consummated in a few days by Executive action.
President Roosevelt inspected the First Army in its maneuver area today, and in conversations with generals standing in front of their massed divisions he was told that they were so handicapped by lack of equipment that in some instances they were drilling with drain pipes instead of regular trench mortars and broomsticks instead of machine guns. The health and morale of the men are excellent, these generals told their Commander in Chief. Some of the commanders indicated that they were certain that the end of the more pressing phases of the equipment shortage was in sight. During his inspection trip the President saw trucks which had been used to simulate tanks during the maneuvers. He also saw lines of converted taxicabs pressed into service for motor transport.
Great blocks of men were mustered at roadsides over this 1,500 square mile upper New York State area in which the First Army, numbering almost 90,000 men, is conducting the largest military exercises ever held in the United States. In a conversation at the end of his trip President Roosevelt said he believed the exercises were the largest of the kind ever held in this country since the Civil War. Ten separate twenty-one gun salutes were fired in the President’s honor during his 110-mile tour of the area and at each gun saluting point the regulation four drum ruffles and four bugle flourishes were given. President Roosevelt was accompanied on his inspection tour by Governor Lehman, Secretary of War Stimson, and Lieutenant General Hugh A. Drum, commander of the First Army and director of the maneuvers.
Bernard L. Burdick, chief of the Panama Canal’s office in Washington, disclosed today that preparations were almost complete for the gigantic task of digging a new $277,000,000 channel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
[Ed: The new canal locks would be abandoned as war came ever closer. It would be decades before any expansion of the Panama Canal began.]
Early census returns indicate that shifting of population will give the South and Far West more votes in the House of Representatives. The figures showed probable losses of representation for the drought-ridden areas of the Middle West and the Northeastern States. Reapportionment of the House, however, will not be made before the approaching Presidential election, since the final figures will not be available for a few months and Congress has the right to dictate how, if at all, the apportionment will be made. The earliest election at which the new seating may be used will be that of 1942, provided Congress takes some action next year. Recently it passed an act providing automatic reapportionment sometime in 1942 if nothing is done at the next session. This act could be repealed, however, and even if used, might not provide new seating until 1944.
A new nationwide survey by the American Institute of Public Opinion indicates that a majority of the American people are not yet satisfied that sufficient progress is being made in rearming the United States, according to Dr. George Gallup, the institute’s director.
Major League Baseball:
The Red Sox outslugged the Senators today to win the second of a three-game series, 12–9, lashing out eighteen hits, fifteen of them off starter Dutch Leonard. Jimmy Foxx, Joe Cronin, and Dom DiMaggio all homered for the Red Sox.
Johnny Niggeling, a fugitive from the National League, held the Indians to five hits today, out-dueling Bob Feller, and the Browns squeezed out a 2–1 decision which snapped the league leaders’ victory streak at five straight.
The White Sox, opening with a four-run blast in the first inning, held the lead and subdued the Tigers, 9–5, today. Joe Kuhel highlighted the Chicago attack with a bases-loaded triple. Chicago thus took fourth place undisputed, breaking a tie with the idle Yankees, who dropped to fifth.
The game in Philadelphia between the Yankees and the Athletics was rained out today.
Stan Hack’s 4th hit of the game, a 2-out single in the 13th, gives the Cubs a 6–5 win over the Pirates. Hack had earlier doubled in the tying run in the ninth. Claude Passeau, the last of five Cub pitchers, is the winner. Veteran Danny MacFayden takes the loss for the Bucs.
Today’s game between the Reds and Cardinals at St. Louis was rained out as well.
The game between the Giants and the Phillies at the Polo Grounds today also was rained out.
Washington Senators 9, Boston Red Sox 12
Pittsburgh Pirates 5, Chicago Cubs 6
St. Louis Browns 2, Cleveland Indians 1
Chicago White Sox 9, Detroit Tigers 5
Canada and the United States signed the Ogdensburg Agreement, establishing the Permanent Joint Board on Defense. President Roosevelt and the Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie King sign Ogdensburg Agreement providing for Permanent Joint Board for the Defense of the United States and Canada. The President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada, isolated behind the drawn blinds of a private railway car, talked over tonight a specific course of Canadian-American action for defense of the western hemisphere. It was a conference which President Roosevelt had admitted in advance might result in stronger ties with the dominion than ever before, It coincided, furthermore, with a clear-cut indication, from the chief executive of continued American adherence to a policy of coming to the aid of the dominion against any attack from overseas.
A possibility of informal staff talks on defense problems between representatives of the American and Canadian High Commands was seen in informed quarters today as a result of the negotiations between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Mackenzie King of Canada.
Destroyers USS Walke and USS Wainwright departed Bahia, Brazil for Pará, Brazil.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 121.98 (+0.7)
Born:
David Price, American politician, (Rep-D-North Carolina 1987-95, 1997-2023), in Erwin, Tennessee.
Mack Lee Hill, AFL fullback (AFL All-Star, 1964; Kansas City Chiefs), in Quincy, Florida (d. 1965, suddenly after undergoing knee surgery).
Died:
Billy Fiske, 29, American RAF pilot and first American serviceman killed in action in World War II.
Hector Charles Bywater, 55, distinguished writer on naval affairs who predicted war between the U.S. and Japan.
Naval Construction:
The Royal Canadian Navy Flower-class corvette HMCS Cobalt (K 124) is launched by Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. (Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada).
The Royal Navy “U”-class (Second Group) submarine HMS Utmost (N 19) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant John Henry Eaden, DSC, RN.
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Coreopsis (K 32) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander Alan Holt Davies, RNVR.
History Diaries 