http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jan40/f03jan40.htm
Royal Navy seizes US ship
Wednesday, January 3, 1940 www.onwar.com
In the North Atlantic... British warships detain the American SS Mormacsun.
The Winter War... Finnish aircraft drop three million pamphlets on Leningrad. The Finnish government claims to have destroyed 400 Soviet tanks and brought down 150 Soviet planes since the fighting began.
On the Western Front... In the Vosges area, French patrols ambush two German detachments and take several prisoners.
In Washington... President Roosevelt requests $1.8 billion for national defense in his annual budget request to Congress.
In Berlin... A conciliatory letter from Mussolini transmitted to Hitler in an effort to offset the Italian condemnations of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The Duce, however, maintains that “the solution of your Lebensraum is in Russia and not elsewhere.”
In Ireland... The Eire government introduces legislation to detain members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) without trial.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/03.htm
January 3rd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Unity Mitford returns home via Switzerland after attempting suicide in the ‘Englischer Garten’ in Munich. She had gone to Germany when Nazism attracted many English admirers. Aged 24, she is a member of the family of Lord Redesdale. She became known as the ‘Storm Trooper Maiden’ in the ‘Osteria Bavaria’ restaurant in Munch after Hitler invited her to his table.
No. 10 Sqn. RAAF is assigned to No. 15 Group RAF Coastal Command. (Jack McKillop)
Submarine HMS Taku commissioned. (DS)
NORTH SEA: SS Svartön sunk by U-58 57.48N, 01.47W - Grid AN 1866. (DS)
GERMANY: U-143 and U-753 are laid down. (DS)
FINLAND: The government claims to have destroyed 400 Russian tanks and brought down 150 planes since the fighting began.
BALTIC SEA: Soviet submarine S-2 struck a mine at Märket and sinks. (DS)
SPAIN: Cadiz: U-25 becomes the first Axis submarine to take advantage of Spains’ offer to allow provisioning and refuelling in its ports. It ties up along the German freighter THALIA. After four hours of taking supplies off the merchant ship, U-25 returns to sea. (Russell Folsom)(206 p.118)
"In a press conference Mr. Edison was asked about persistent reports that the navy was planning the construction of giant battleships of from 65,000 to 80,000 tons. Admiral Stark, chief of naval operations, was at his side." 'We are giving thought to all matters which might add to the efficiency of the navy,' Mr. Edison replied.
" 'That is right. We always do that', Admiral Stark agreed.
May Give Estimates to Congress:
"The navy has no plans for ships of 65,000 to 80,000 tons, but in response to inquiries from members of the House it may tell Congress what a ship of such size would cost...
"...The Secretary announced that the battleship North Carolina would be launched at the New York Navy Yard early in June."
It can get a bit confusing, so here are the last battleships the United States ever built:
So the questions here by reporters are quite astute, and the answers by Edison & Stark a bit, well, misleading.
If there was ever a real chance for peace, it has now all but slipped away. President Roosevelt is calling for peace. Mussolini is calling for peace. The Pope is calling for peace. Unofficial peace feelers are coming from all directions.
But Britain's Chamberlain and Halifax insist that peace must begin with removing Hitler from power, and must include restoration of Versailles Peace Treaty terms. The first condition only a few Germans can even consider doing, and those few are not willing to accept the second condition.
Hitler has made his own decision:
"After the unequivocal declarations by German statesmen, there cannot be any doubt regarding the German determination to seek a decision by force of arms alone."