As the Italian invasion of Greece began to slow to a stop in the Epirus Mountains, British forces landed on the islands of Lemnos and Crete in southern Greece to prevent Italian landings on Greek islands. Greek destroyers Spetsai and Psara departed the Gulf of Patras and used their 120-mm guns to bombard Italian troops on the Ionian coast of Albania and northern Greece.
In the vital Pindus Mountains sector in the center of the line, the Italian troops struggle forward through the snow and icy rain. Their first objective (40 km off their initial front) is the town of Vovousa, which they have not yet reached and is only a stepping-stone to the key Greek supply crossroads of Metsovo. The Greek line is stabilizing and giving ground grudgingly. On the coastal sector, the Italians are still moving forward to reestablish contact with the Greeks who have withdrawn to the Kalpaki Line. At this point, the Italians are still giving the North African front priority over the Albanian one.
Most histories state that this is the day that the Italian advance “stalls.” That is a little premature. Greek resistance is stiffening, but the Italians are still moving forward in the central and coastal sectors.
The British land forces on the islands of Lemnos and Crete.
Greek destroyers Spetsai and Psara, operating out of Patras, cruise up to Albania and bombard Italian positions there using their 120 mm guns. This incident and the looming presence of the Royal Navy (the British Mediterranean Fleet is operating to the south) helps to cause Italy to scrub its projected operation to occupy Corfu (there are other reasons as well, such as troops being diverted to other operations).
The Greeks have told the Turkish government that they can hold out against the Italians without this country’s help, authoritative quarters here said today. They added that Turkey would enter the war only “in case of a Bulgarian attack on Greece or if Turkey’s national interests are endangered.” Nevertheless, they said, this country has promised all possible aid to Greece providing that aid does not take the Turks to the point of becoming belligerents.
Royal Navy convoy escort limits are now being pushed out to 19 degrees west.
Pierre Laval says he believes democracy is dead all over the world. The Vice Premier of France made this statement in a broad review of the international system just before he entered his conference with Adolf Hitler this week.
The Warsaw District government moved all Jews living in Warsaw to the ghettos.
The Italian submarine Scirè attacked the British naval base at Gibraltar with manned torpedoes, but none of them deployed successfully and the British were able to recover one for analysis.
The British establish the Combined Bureau in Cairo. It is staffed by specialists from Bletchley Park to handle Ultra decrypts, which are closely guarded.
The government of Malta reports on the results of the war during its first four months of the war with Italy. It finds that there have been distinct phases in the battle:
First Stage: Italian SM 79 bombers attacked without escorts;
Second Stage: Italian fighters made sweeps without bombers;
Third Stage: Day bombings resumed with fighter escorts, including by Stuka dive-bombers.
Air activity, the reports also states, died down completely in October.
The worst, however, is yet to come… but also the most unbelievable, brilliant courage and endurance — and victory.
The Battle of Britain ended. According to a British Air Ministry pamphlet published in 1941, this date was the official end of the Battle of Britain, but bombings on London, England, United Kingdom would continue. Since 1 July 1940, the Luftwaffe has lost 1,789 aircraft, of which 600 were Bf 109s and 235 were Bf 110s. The RAF lost 1,603 aircraft: 1,140 fighters and 367 bombers. Between August 8 and this date the Luftwaffe lost 2,375 planes while the RAF lost 800. Today, 31 October 1940, is when the British officially view the Battle of Britain as ending (date first established by a British Air Ministry pamphlet published in 1941). Just as their start date of 10 July 1940 is somewhat arbitrary, so too is this date. The Luftwaffe attacks continue, and the Germans retain the initiative throughout the winter. On the other hand, the likelihood of an invasion in 1940 has ended long ago, and there are few prospects for one in 1941. Hitler’s wandering eye and strategic obligations to his allies, and the continuing inability of Fighter Command to subdue the Royal Air Force, rules out any kind of a repeat of the opportunities so briefly afforded during the summer of 1940. There was a brief window of opportunity to conquer England, and he walked right by it.
The ironic thing about the battle ending now is that the Germans finally have figured out a coherent strategy which, if pursued long enough and with enough vigor, conceivably could turn the battle in their favor. Fighter-bomber (Jabo) raids during the day and medium bomber waves at night is a winning formula — given the right targets. Combined with a heightened U-boat campaign, the battle conceivably could still turn in Germany’s favor. Churchill always maintains that the real threat to England, the thing that worries him the most, is the economic strangulation posed by the U-boats. However, Hitler knows that his strength lies on land, not at sea and that quite accurate belief, ironically, will be his downfall.
Estimates for losses during the Battle of Britain (as defined by the British) vary wildly. If you were to take accounts from the media of the day, German losses would be several times what their records establish them to be. However, there is no question that the RAF soundly trounced the Luftwaffe over England.
— Luftwaffe losses (approximate): 1733-2200 planes, 3893 men
— RAF losses (reasonably certain): 544-828 planes 1007 men
These figures, incidentally, are constantly changing. I have seen figures as high as 1100+ for RAF planes lost. Generally, more recent figures have the loss ratio much closer than earlier figures. Eventually, historians easily could conclude that both sides lost the same numbers of planes — the figures have changed that much. If I can make a parenthetical observation, it is extremely unlikely that the Luftwaffe lost 2000 planes, considering that they only began the campaign with about that many planes (some estimates say 2800) and the German factories were hardly producing fast enough at this time to cover those kinds of losses. Many planes made it back to France smoking like a chimney but were repaired and sent up again. So, to be realistic, it is probably wise to take any official estimates and ratchet up the RAF losses and ratchet down the Luftwaffe ones.
However — and this is a huge “however” — the Luftwaffe lost the vast majority of pilots and aircrew that were shot down (yes, some were picked up by the very efficient Luftwaffe He-59 air-sea rescue crews). The RAF lost a much smaller fraction of its personnel to death and severe injury. This was the real damage to the Luftwaffe, not the number of planes lost (many of which would soon have been replaced by better models anyway). The Luftwaffe was never really short of planes, even during the war’s last days: the constraining factors were trained pilots and, most importantly, fuel. Losing all those great pilots was the real cost to Germany of the battle — well, that and the anger from Hades unleashed upon them by killing so many civilians essentially to no purpose.
To the British side of the loss-ledger should be added the cities ruined, the civilian lives lost, the businesses destroyed, the families separated, the ships sunk, the bombers lost over Europe, and many other costs to which the war summaries pay lip service. The Luftwaffe dropped over 35,000 tons of bombs on Great Britain. London was attacked 19 times by 18,800 tons of bombs, razing 16,000 houses, damaging 130,000 others and making 60,000 uninhabitable. The worst area hit was the East End. All of this damage to England evens the “score” between the two sides somewhat, but destroying houses and killing women and children brought the Luftwaffe no closer to victory and made any talk of peace talks political suicide in England.
The Battle of Britain was won by the pilots, and they came from throughout the British Empire. 595 of the RAF pilots were non-British:
— 145 pilots from Poland
— 127 from New Zealand
— 112 from Canada
— 88 from Czechoslovakia
— 28 from Belgium
— 32 from Australia
— 25 from South Africa
— 13 from France
— 10 from Ireland
— 7 from America
— 1 from each of Jamaica, Palestine, and Rhodesia.
It should be noted that virtually everyone then and now agrees that the best RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain were the Polish pilots who escaped before their country’s surrender.
The most successful pilots of the Battle of Britain were Werner Molders and Adolf Galland of the Luftwaffe, both of whom had 50 victories to their credit (some earned previously) by the battle’s conclusion. On the RAF side, Eric Stanley Lock had 21 victories by 31 October 1940 (he wound up with 26 confirmed and 8 probable kills). James Lacey — often erroneously reported as the top ace of the Battle of Britain — only shot down 18 during the battle itself. He wound up with 28 kills and four probable kills by 1945. Lacey’s greatest feat was, like Galland, to be on duty on both the first day of the war and the last.
During the day itself, the weather is rough and little takes place. In fact, it is one of the quietest days since the campaign began. The day is occupied by reconnaissance and occasional raids, primarily on airfields at Bassingbourn, Poling, Lawford Heath, and Martlesham. The raids are primarily by lone “pirate” bombers and don’t accomplish much.
The Royal Ordnance Factory at Glascoed, the British Portland Cement Company, and The Repairable Equipment Ltd Factory all took damage. The raids are so scattered and sparse that Fighter Command can’t even vector in any fighters for a confrontation — the bombers slip in and out.
After dark, London and the Midlands are bombed, and mines are dropped in the Thames Estuary. The winds are so bad that they blow the German bombers off course. This causes most of the bombers to miss London — which shows how strong the winds. Other attacks on Birmingham also achieve little. London is bombed throughout the night, but sporadically, and only by a handful of bombers at a time.
For the first time in four months, neither side takes any combat casualties. The weather, though, does take something from both sides, so generally, it is accepted that the Luftwaffe lost 2 planes today in weather-related incidents and the RAF one.
Luftwaffe long-range aircraft are now flying from bases in Norway. Inter-service rivalry between the Luftwaffe and the Navy means the Kondor will never be fully integrated into the German effort in the Battle of the Atlantic.
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 14 Blenheims during the day. 5 aircraft attacked various targets, mostly in France. No losses.
There is no bombing activity by the RAF out of England owing to the poor weather.
RAF Bomber Command in Egypt, however, stretches its operations to the maximum (so far) and bombs oil installations in Naples, Italy.
Coastal Command attacks enemy shipping off Norway.
Italian bombers attack the British base at Mersa Matruh with 26 bombers escorted by 37 fighters. The RAF also attacks Italian airfields.
South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts is flying home from a conference in Sudan when RAF fighters mistake his plane for Italian and attack it. The plane lands safely in Kenya.
U-124, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Georg-Wilhelm Schulz, sank British steamer Rutland (1437grt), a straggler from convoy HX.82, in 57-14N, 16-00W. At 2158 hours on 31 Oct 1940 the unescorted Rutland (Master Robert N. Sinclair) was hit in the foreship by one torpedo from U-124 after a chase of six hours and sank by the bow within 30 seconds about 100 miles northwest of Rockall. The master, 23 crew members, one gunner and four passengers were lost. The 1,437 ton Rutland was carrying bananas and was bound for Garston, England.
German armed merchant cruiser Widder arrived at Brest, France after a 179-day long operation in the Atlantic Ocean that saw the sinking of 10 ships totaling 58,645 tons.
Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, after refitting in the Clyde, departed the Clyde at 1700 escorted by heavy cruiser HMS Berwick, light cruiser HMS Glasgow, destroyers HMS Isis, HMS Foxhound, and HMS Duncan to Gibraltar. Free French liner Pasteur (30, 477grt) accompanied this group to Gibraltar. Liner Pasteur arrived at Gibraltar escorted by destroyers Duncan, Isis, and Foxhound.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curacoa arrived in Pentland Firth after convoy EN.15 escort and proceeded to convoy WN.27 which was sheltering west of Dunnet Head. When the gale eased to permit passage, the convoy continued. Cruiser Curacoa continued with the convoy to Pentland Firth. The Anti-aircraft cruiser arrived at Scapa Flow at 2345 on the 31st.
Motor torpedo boat MTB.16 (Lt P- F. S. Gould) was lost on a mine in the Thames Estuary. MTB.22 was damaged by mining in the same incident.
British steamer Hillfern (1535grt) was lost to unknown external explosion thirty five miles north, northwest of Buchanness. Eight crewmen were missing on the steamer.
British steamer Starstone (5702grt) was damaged by German bombing in 54-12N, 15-32W.
German trawler Aldebaran (433grt) was sunk on a mine off Libau.
Destroyer HMS Griffin followed French destroyers Brestois, Bordelais, Simoun, Tempete, and L’Alcyon through the Straits of Gibraltar westward. Battleship HMS Barham, battlecruiser HMS Renown, destroyers HMS Fortune, HMS Firedrake, HMS Fury, and HMS Greyhound departed Gibraltar. Destroyer Firedrake made an attack on a submarine contact in 35-52N, 7-55W. When the French ships turned south, the British ships returned to Gibraltar. The battleship, battlecruiser, destroyers Greyhound, Fortune, Firedrake, and Fury arrived at Gibraltar on 1 November. Destroyers HMS Encounter and HMS Griffin also arrived on 1 November.
Greek destroyers Spetsai and Psara departed the Gulf of Patras and bombarded Italian positions in Albania.
Operation JUDGMENT was considered for this date while the Mediterranean Fleet was at sea, but unfavorable moon conditions ruled it out.
French steamer Congo (5205grt) departed Fort de France for Casablanca with 1259 passengers, including 1206 naval personnel, on the 24th. The steamer was intercepted by Armed merchant cruiser HMS Moreton Bay at 26-45N, 29-44W and sent to Freetown. Light cruiser HMS Dragon joined the ships on 6 November and all arrived at Freetown on 7 November. Passengers on the steamer were put on other ships between 14 December and 4 January and allowed to continue to Casablanca.
The German freighter Rio Grande set sail from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rio Grande would elude the Neutrality Patrol and ultimately reaches Bordeaux, France, six weeks later.
Light cruiser HMS Danae departed Penang.
Light cruiser HMS Diomede was refitting this month at Bermuda.
Light cruiser HMS Neptune was repairing this month at Capetown.
Convoy OB.237 departed Liverpool escorted by destroyers HMS Achates, HMS Active, and HMS Antelope and corvette HMS Picotee. The escorts were detached on 2 November.
Convoy FS.324 departed Methil, escorted by destroyer HMS Vivien and sloop HMS Londonderry. The convoy arrived at Southend on 2 November.
Convoy HG.46 with fifty one ships departed Gibraltar. Destroyers HMS Inglefield and HMS Vidette and sloop HMS Wellington departed Gibraltar with the convoy. Destroyer Vidette was detached on 3 November and destroyer Inglefield was detached on 6 November. Sloop Wellington was with the convoy for the entire voyage. On 8 November, sloop Wellington was in a collision with British steamer Sarastone (2473grt). The sloop was repaired at Liverpool. On 8 November, battlecruiser HMS Renown was with the convoy and continued until 10 November. Also, on 8 November, ocean boarding vessel HMS Camito joined the convoy and remained with the convoy until 15 November. Armed merchant cruiser HMS Derbyshire with convoy SL.53 was with the convoy from 9 to 19 November. Convoy SL.53 was in company with HG.46 from 9 to 12 November. Heavy cruiser HMAS Australia escorted the convoy from 11 to 14 November. From convoy OB.241, destroyers HMS Veteran, HMS Verity, and HMS Witherington and corvettes HMS Clematis and HMS Primrose joined the convoy escort on 15 November. From convoy OB.239, corvette Arabis joined the escort on 15 November. From convoy OB.242, destroyers HMS Warwick, HMS Clare, HMS Wanderer, and HMS Wild Swan joined the escort on 15 November. British steamer Andoni (678grt) broke down on 16 November. She was taken in tow by corvette Clematis and escorted by destroyer Clare, which left the convoy on 15 November. Destroyers Veteran and Verity were detached on 17 November and corvette Clematis was detached on 16 November. Corvette Arabis was detached on 18 November. Corvettes HMS Asphodel and HMS Picotee from convoy OB.245 joined the convoy on 18 November. On 19 November, destroyers Witherington, Warwick, Wanderer, and Wild Swan and corvettes Primrose, Asphodel, and Picotee were detached. On 19 November, convoy HG.46 arrived at Liverpool.
The following destroyers were under repair at the end of October – HMS Acheron at Portsmouth repairing, HMS Ambuscade at Greenock repairing, HMS Anthony at Greenock repairing, HMS Atherstone at Chatham repairing, HMS Ashanti at Rosyth aground, HMS Bedouin at Southampton repairing, HMS Boreas at London repairing, HMS Brighton at Plymouth refitting, HMS Echo at Clyde repairing, HMS Eclipse at Scapa Flow repairing, HMS Escapade at Troon repairing, HMS Express at Humber repairing, HMS Fame at Rosyth aground, HMS Fearless at Greenock repairing, HMS Foresight at Liverpool refitting, HMS Hambledon at Chatham repairing, HMCS Hamilton at Halifax repairing, HMS Holderness at Sheerness repairing, HMS Hotspur at Gibraltar repairing, HMS Imperial at Malta repairing, HMS Javelin at Humber refitting, HMS Kelly at Tyne repairing, HMS Kipling at Tyne repairing, HMS Mendip at Scapa Flow repairing, HMS Montrose at Chatham repairing, HMS Roxborough at St Johns repairing, HMS Sabre at Belfast repairing, HMS Saladin at Liverpool with defects, HMS Sikh at Leith repairing, HMS Tartar at Plymouth refitting, HMS Valorous at Rosyth refitting, HMS Vanessa at Chatham repairing, HMS Velox at Chatham refitting, HMS Versatile at Tyne repairing, HMS Vivacious at Humber repairing, HMS Vortigern at Humber repairing, HMS Walpole at London repairing, HMS Warwick at Liverpool refitting, HMS Westcott at Plymouth refitting, HMS Whitshed at Chatham repairing, HMS Winchelsea at Liverpool refitting, HMS Witch at Portsmouth repairing, HMS Wolverine at Falmouth refitting, HMS Zulu at Rosyth repairing, Australian HMAS Stuart at Malta refitting, HMAS Vendetta at Malta repairing, French Bouclier at Portsmouth repairing, Branlebas at Portsmouth refitting, La Cordeliere at Portsmouth refitting, and Polish ORP Blyskawica at Clyde repairing.
That is a total of FIFTY precious destroyers out of action, at the very time that the Kriegsmarine U-boat arm is beginning to make its presence felt more strongly. The strain of earlier operations is taking its toll on the Royal Navy as the Battle of the Atlantic heats up.
President Roosevelt returned to Washington today, conferred on foreign affairs with Secretary Hull and dedicated the new National Institute of Health at Bethesda, Maryland.
The Senate heard Senator Holt criticize the participation of Ambassador Kennedy in the political campaign and recessed at 12:12 PM until noon on Monday.
The House received the resignation of Representative Lindsay Warren, who has been appointed Controller General, and adjourned at 12:04 PM until noon Monday.
Saying that dictatorial power sometimes manifested itself in little things, Wendell L. Willkie this afternoon charged President Roosevelt with playing “cheap politics” with inter national affairs and the liberties of the American people. In a speech at a Republican rally at the Walker-Gordon Farms in Plainsboro, New Jersey, the Republican Presidential candidate, who last night had listened by radio to his Democratic opponent’s speech at Boston, used as his text the President’s reference to Joseph P. Kennedy as “my Ambassador to Great Britain.” “That is what any man would naturally say who has in his hands enormous power, who has felt the taste of power, who thinks in terms of himself as the ruler of a people instead of being merely an instrument for carrying out the laws of the land,” Mr. Willkie said.
Wendell L. Willkie asserted tonight that the United States “is sick of the type of government that treats our constitution like a scrap of paper.” The Supreme Court is regarded as an “obstruction,” he said in a prepared speech, “Our unwritten law against granting a third term to any president is not even mentioned by the third term candidate. He doesn’t even attempt to justify his violation of it.”
General Hugh Johnson, in a radio address tonight urging the election of Wendell Willkie, accused President Roosevelt of a policy of “hypocrisy and deceit” and described Ambassador Joseph Kennedy as a “war monger.” Johnson’s speech was largely a reply to Ambassador Kennedy’s radiocast of this week urging the reelection of President Roosevelt and increased military aid to Britain. The general said Kennedy was misleading the American people when he told them that Britain does not want American manpower only airplanes and other military supplies. The argument that no American soldiers were wanted was used when Britain was engaged in the World war. Johnson said, yet a few months later manpower was demanded and soon 2,000,000 American soldiers were in Europe.
President Roosevelt declared today that “neither the American people nor their government intend to socialize medical practice any more than they plan to socialize industry.” This pronouncement was made in an address delivered at the dedication of the new $4,000,000 plant of the National Institute of Health, a government research agency near Bethesda, Maryland, suburb of the national capital. The institute includes the National Cancer institute. Speaking from the high portico of the administration building to federal and state officials and a crowd seated in rows below him, the chief executive held up the family doctor as a bulwark of the nation and espoused “a partnership” of “federal, state and local health and medicine.”
Mrs. Raissa Irene Berkmann Browder, wife of Earl R. Browder, Communist party candidate for President, was ordered deported from the United States on the basis of her own testimony “describing her surreptitious entry in 1933,” in a ruling by Attorney General Jackson today. Simultaneously suspension of the deportation order was denied to her, Mr. Jackson explained, because of doubt of her eligibility for leniency, her failure to remove this.doubt and “the evasive character of her testimony” regarding her relation to the Communist party. Within a few days immigration officials will determine the effective date of the deportation to the Soviet Republic at the expense of the United States Government.
The aid of the automobile industry, officials stated today, has been enlisted in a program intended to supply the army with, a striking force of 17,000 bombers. Informed quarters said the plans, which have been expanded largely in recent days, call for a request to congress for a $2,000,000,000 appropriation for the purchase of additional planes, and to finance an increase in production facilities. Exact delivery dates were not disclosed, but it was stated that all the revised plans look to 1942 and beyond.
Orders on the books of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation and its subsidiaries on Sept. 30 were at the unprecedented total of $1,123,081,930, virtually four times the backlogs of $288,521,487 reported on June 30, 1940, which was a high record at the time, it was announced yesterady by Eugene G. Grace, president of the company.
The U.S. Army has approved the export to Great Britain of the secret bomb-sight developed and manufactured for it. by the Sperry Gyroscope Co. of Brooklyn, New York, a responsible treasury official disclosed tonight. The Sperry plant, this source added, is now being geared for mass production of the vital parts of the coveted weapon, with overseas shipment tentatively scheduled to begin late next February, or early March.
The British government continues to crack down on Indian Nationalists who are engaging in coordinated nonviolent protests. Jawaharlal Nehru gives a speech, is arrested, and ultimately is sentenced to four years of hard labor.
At the continuing Battle of South Kwangsi, the Japanese 22nd Army is under pressure and retreats to Chinhsien for evacuation to Hainan Island. Japanese troops are said to have abandoned Kwangsi Province, in Southern China, and nearly 7,000 already have sailed from Haiphong, Indo-China, to a destination that was not disclosed.
Charges that the United States is preparing to attack Japan appear in this morning’s Nichi Nichi in a dispatch from its Shanghai correspondent.
During the night of 31 October-1 November, German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin laid forty mines off Hobart and auxiliary minelayer Passat laid forty mines in Bass Strait.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 134.61 (+1.63)
Born:
Craig Rodwell, gay rights activist, in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1993).
Died:
Frank Anstey, 75, Australian politician.
John Renshaw Carson, 54, American transmission theorist and inventor.
Harvey Pulford, Canadian multisport athlete.
Naval Construction:
The Вое́нно-морско́й флот СССР (ВМФ) (Soviet Navy) “M” (Malyutka)-class (4th group, Type XV) submarines M-203, M-204, M-205, and M-206 are laid down by Sudomekh (Leningrad, U.S.S.R.) / Yard 196.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boats U-587, U-588, U-589, and U-590 are laid down by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (werk 563–566).
The Royal Navy Hunt-class (Type III) escort destroyer HMS Bleasdale (L 50) is laid down by Vickers Armstrong (Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K.); completed by Parsons.
The Royal Canadian Navy Tribal-class destroyer destroyer HMCS Athabaskan (G 07) is laid down by Vickers Armstrong (Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K.); completed by Parsons.
The Royal Navy MMS I-class motor minesweeper HMS MMS 10 (J 510) is launched by Wilson Noble (Fraserburgh, Scotland, U.K.).
The Royal Navy Bangor-class (Turbine-engined) minesweeper HMS Beaumaris (J 07) is launched by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (Troon, Scotland).
The Royal Navy Bangor-class (Reciprocating-engined) minesweeper HMS Peterhead (J 59) is launched by the Blyth Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. Ltd. (Blyth, U.K.); completed by Whites M.E.
The U.S. Navy motor torpedo boat USS PT-7, lead boat of her class of 2, is launched by the Philadelphia Navy Yard (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-71 is launched by F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG, Kiel (werk 618).
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Spirae (K 08) is launched by A & J Inglis Ltd. (Glasgow, Scotland) : Kincaid.
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Kingcup (K 33) is launched by Harland & Wolff Ltd. (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
The Royal Navy Flower-class corvette HMS Dahlia (K 59) is launched by J. Lewis & Sons Ltd. (Aberdeen, Scotland).
The Royal Canadian Navy corvette HMS Trillium (K 172), launched as the Royal Navy HMS Trillium (K 172), is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander Ronald Fraser Harris, RN.
The Royal Navy “U”-class (Second Group) submarine HMS Upholder (P 37, later N 99) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Malcolm David Wanklyn, RN.
The Вое́нно-морско́й флот СССР (ВМФ) (Soviet Navy) “S” (Stalinec)-class (2nd group, Type IX-modified) submarine S-9 is commissioned.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIB U-boat U-74 is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Kapitänleutnant Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat.
For the month of October 1940, the German U-boats sank 60 ships (for a total of 342,204 tons) and damaged 12 more ships (total of 64,311 tons).
During the month of October 1940, Allied losses due to U-boats and mines increase, while losses to surface raiders and aircraft decrease.
Sunk by Aircraft: 8,752 tons;
Sunk by Raider: 32,134 tons;
Sunk by Mine: 32,548 tons.
There is one U-boat lost. The month of October is considered perhaps the height of the first U-boat “Happy Time” of the war, exemplified by the catastrophes of Convoys SC.7 and HX.79.
History Diaries 