Action in Yucatan Channel

TUE 24 OCT 1939
British light cruiser HMS Orion and Canadian destroyer HMCS Saguenay locate German tanker Emmy Friedrich in the Yucatan Channel; British light cruiser HMS Caradoc subsequently intercepts Emmy Friedrich, whose crew scuttles her to avoid capture.

British steamships Menin Ridge and Ledbury are attacked and sunk by German submarine U-37 (torpedoes and gunfire, respectively) 36°01'N, 07°22'W. U.S. freighter Crown City rescues the only five survivors from the 27-man crew of Menin Ridge and Ledbury's entire 33-man crew.

Soviet authorities intern U.S. freighter City of Flint's German prize crew from armored ship Deutschland at Murmansk (see 27-28 October and 3 November).

U.S. freighter Wacosta is detained by British authorities (see 8 November); freighter Iberville, detained by the British since 13 October, is released after cargo due to be discharged at Antwerp and Rotterdam, Holland, is seized as contraband. British authorities at Kirkwall remove 468 bags of U.S. mail destined for Gothenborg, Sweden and 18 for Helsinki, Finland, from Finnish freighter Astrid Thorden.