Existing comment:
Note Written in Blood:
In the attack on Panay, the gunboat's commanding officer Lt Cmdr James J Hughes was incapacitated by wounds. Despite wounds to his hands and throat, executive officer Arthur F (Tex) Anders gave the order to return fire on the attackers by writing in his own blood.
World War II: Short of War:
For the United States, the 1920s and 1930s was a period of isolationism. Congress, reflecting the will of the people, rejected involvement in world affairs and foreign wars, failing even to join the League of Nations. But German and Japanese expansion threatened America's traditional friends. With the advent of the war in Europe in September 1939, the United States began edging closer to war with Germany. From "Cash and Carry" to "Lend Lease" to convoying supply ships, the United States strove to support Britain in its war with fascism without actually declaring war. The attack on Pearl Harbor made the issue moot; the United States was at war.
The Panay Incident: December 1937:
The United States had maintained a presence in China for many years. Japanese aggression in the fall of 1937 added a new threat to the situation. When Japanese troops advanced on the city of Nanking, Americans evacuated.
On 11 December, the last American boarded the gunboat Panay. The next day, Japanese fighters and bombers attacked Panay, wounding many and killing three. Although the Japanese government disavowed the attack and paid compensation for the losses, relations between Japan and the United States continued to deteriorate.
It took less than half an hour for the Japanese to reduce the Panay to a sinking wreck. Her captain and 47 other men were wounded; two sailors and one civilian passenger were killed.
"Neutrality Patrol" in the Atlantic -- 1939-1941:
Within days of war's outbreak in September 1939, the United States declared its neutrality and established a naval patrol to keep the war from American shores.
Yet, the United States soon became less than neutral, exchanging old American destroyers for British naval bases in the Atlantic and Caribbean and then instituting the Lend-Lease policy. The United States also provided convoy escorts for British supply ships. As a result, several US Navy ships would come under attack during this uncertain time.
On the night of 16-18 October 1941, a German wolfpack struck a convoy of fifty merchantmen streaming from Canada to Great Britain. A torpedo struck USS Kearny, one of four American destroyers guarding the convoy. Eleven men were killed and 24 wounded, the first United States Navy losses of World War II.
On Halloween 1941, USS Reuben James and four other American destroyers were escorting a convoy of 44 ships. Just before dawn, a German torpedo split the destroyer in half. One hundred fifteen men were killed, including all of the ship's officers. Reuben James was the first United States Navy ship lost in the war.
A month before the United States entered the war, the light cruiser Omaha and destroyer Somers were patrolling the Brazilian coast when they encountered a German blockade runner loaded with rubber from Japan. The Odenwald was boarded and taken to Port of Spain, Trinidad, as a "suspected slaver."
On the Verge -- 1941:
American leaders now saw war as inevitable. Preparations were well underway. On 1 February, the Navy was reorganized so that the United States Fleet, Asiatic Fleet, and the neutrality patrol squadron became, respectively, the Pacific Fleet under the command of Adm Husband E Kimmel; Asiatic Fleet, Adm Thomas C. Hart; and Atlantic Fleet, Adm Ernest J King.
That August, President Franklin D Roosevelt [and] British Prime Minister Winston Churchill held a face-to-face meeting known as the Atlantic Conference.
In secrecy, President Roosevelt boarded the heavy cruiser Augusta and sailed to Argentina, Newfoundland. There, he met with Prime Minister Churchill to outline their war objectives in the Atlantic Charter.
Husband E Kimmel (1882-1968):
Kimmel was the son of a former Confederate army major. In 1915, he served briefly as an aide to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D Roosevelt. Kimmel commanded the battleship New York in 1933-34 and received his promotion to rear admiral in 1937.
On 1 February 1941, Kimmel was chosen over 46 other admirals to take command of the newly created Pacific Fleet. He was in that billet on 7 December 1941.
USNA 1904
Thomas C Hart (1877-1971):
Soon after graduation from the Naval Academy. Hart served in the Spanish-American War. He went to command a submarine division during World War I. Hart was promoted to rear admiral in 1929 and served as Superintendent of the Naval Academy beginning in 1931.
On 25 July 1939, Admiral Hart was appointed to command of the Asiatic Fleet. It was his role to try and stop the powerful Japanese Navy with his few, aged ships.
USNA 1897 |