Month Two Begins

OCTOBER

SUN 1 OCT 1939
As of this date, the U.S. Navy consists of 396 commissioned ships divided amongst the major U.S. Fleet commands afloat: Battle Force (Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, and Aircraft), Submarine Force, and Base Force; the Scouting Force (Cruisers and Aircraft); the Atlantic Squadron; the Asiatic Fleet; the Special Service Squadron and Squadron 40-T. There are 175 district craft in service in the following naval districts: First (headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts), Third (New York), Fourth (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Fifth (Norfolk, Virginia), Sixth, Seventh and Eighth (Charleston, South Carolina), Ninth (Great Lakes, Illinois), Eleventh (San Diego, California), Twelfth (San Francisco, California), Thirteenth (Seattle, Washington), Fourteenth (Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii), Fifteenth (Balboa, Canal Zone) and Sixteenth (Cavite, Philippine Islands); vessels not in commission (but includes those ordered recommissioned incident to the expansion of the fleet) number 151; 5 district craft are carried as not in service. Vessels listed as "in service" include some used for USNR or Naval Militia training. Vessels not in commission include those loaned to the states of Pennsylvania, California, New York and Massachusetts for use as maritime school ships, the Maritime Commission and the Sea Scouts; as well as "relics" like the Civil War vintage Hartford, the Spanish-American War prize Reina Mercedes, and Spanish-American War veterans Olympia and Oregon. Interestingly, the 1 October 1939 list contains the gunboat Panay (PR-5), bombed and sunk by Japanese naval aircraft in the Yangtze River on 12 December 1937.

Word of German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee's sinking of British freighter Clement reaches British Admiralty, which begins disposition of ships to meet the threat posed by the surface raider in the South Atlantic (see 5 October).