http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/01.htm
December 1st, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: Admiral Sir John Tovey succeeds Admiral Forbes as C-in-C, Home Fleet.
Grimsby: AB Alfred Miles (b. 1899) himself became trapped as he tried to free an AB trapped by a mooring wire; they were freed, but AB Miles had injuries which caused the loss of a hand. (Albert Medal)
Southampton: The city has a second successive night of heavy bombing.
London: Churchill to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The straits to which we are being reduced by Irish action [at denial of the Southern Irish ports] compel a reconsideration of the subsidies [to Ireland]. Surely we ought to use this money to build more ships or buy more from the US.
... let me know how these subsidies can be terminated, and what retaliatory measures the Irish may take.
GERMANY: U-171 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
SWITZERLAND: Rationing of Textiles, shoes, soap and detergent starts today. (William Jay Stone from http://www.geschichte-schweiz.ch/en/worldwar2.html)
ITALY: Flour, spaghetti, macaroni and rice are rationed.
ALBANIA: The Greek army reaches Pogradec on Lake Ohrida. Upon arriving there Dimitry Statharos notes the contrast between the war taking place on the albanian side of the lake and the peace which the Serbs enjoy on the other side. He notes that he could see through his field glasses the Serbians living in peace on the other side. (Steven Statharos)
ROMANIA: Severe fighting is taking place in the Ploesti oilfields. The Fascist Iron Guards and the army are in conflict. A message from Budapest states that Premier Antonescu seems to have lost all authority and that Hitler may be forced to take control of the country to restore order.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Station A personnel evacuated from Shanghai to Corregidor. At least one battalion of the 4th Marines was moved to Cavite at the same time, though one battalion may have remained in Shanghai.
Grunert advised he would receive 75 additional officers for training the Philippine Army but that it would not be Federalized. (Marc Small)
PACIFIC OCEAN: In the South West Pacific, ‘Komet’ and ‘Orion’ share in the sinking of five ships near the phosphate island of Nauru. Later in the month ‘Komet’ shells the installations.
U.S.A.: Washington: The US government has arranged to make another $100 million available to the government of China.
Polls report that 59% of Americans think that the US should go to war, 41% that she should stay out.
Joseph P Kennedy, the pessimistic US ambassador to London, has resigned. For many months there have been reports that President Roosevelt was displeased with his ambassador, who made no secret of his belief that Hitler should be appeased, or of his conviction that Britain would lose the war. He has great influence on Wall Street, however, and Roosevelt needed his endorsement.
There are reports that his resignation followed a painful scene at the president’s home at Hyde Park in New York State.
The ex-ambassador has not gone home empty-handed. He has taken a London air-raid siren to install in his Cape Cod home.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Armed merchant cruiser ‘Carnarvon Castle’ is badly damaged in action with raider ‘Thor’ off Brazil, her second and equally successful fight with an AMC.
‘Kormoran’ is the first of a second wave of raiders to leave for operations. She starts in the Atlantic and later moves to the Indian Ocean, where she is lost in November 1941.
Destroyer HMCS St Laurent (ex HMS Cygnet), a Crusader or C-class destroyer known in the RCN as a River-class destroyer, was dispatched to escort convoy HX-90 in the Western Approaches, which was under heavy attack by seven U-boats. The attacking U-boats were commanded by some of the most successful aces of the war including Kretschmer, Prien, and Schepke. Between 01 Dec and 03 Dec, they sank ten ships for a total of over 69,000 tons.
HMCS St Laurent rescued survivors from the merchant ship SS Conch. Later the same day, St Laurent, along with the destroyer HMS Viscount, rescued survivors from the armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar. St Laurent gained contact on the submarine that sank Forfar and called in Viscount for support. Under the direction of Lt. Rayner, the two ships hunted the submarine for hours and, after a final depth-charge attack, a large volume of oil seemed to indicate that a kill had been scored. For his part in the efficient direction of this action, Lt. Rayner was awarded the first of his two Distinguished Service Crosses. It was only after the war that record reconstruction showed that the German submarine had escaped. The submarine in question was U-99, commanded by the greatest U-boat ace, Kptlt. ‘Silent’ Otto Kretschmer.
U-101 sank SS Appalachee and damaged SS Loch Ranza in Convoy HX-90.
U-37 sank SS Palmella.
Destroyer HMCS Saguenay badly damaged by Italian submarine Argo while escorting Convoy HG-47 300 miles west of Ireland. 21 crewmembers killed. First Canadian warship to be torpedoed by an enemy submarine.
(Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 458 December 1, 1940
At 8.20 AM, Norwegian liner Oslofjord, in use as an Allied troopship, sinks on a mine in the River Tyne, Northeast England (1 killed, 179 survivors).
200 miles West of Ireland, escorting convoy HG-47, Canadian destroyer HMCS Saguenay is torpedoed by Italian submarine Argo destroying the bow (21 killed). HMCS Saguenay reaches Barrow in Furness for repairs (until May 22 1941).
German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer sinks British SS Tribesman in the Atlantic 500 miles West of the Cape Verde islands (8 killed, 14 crew rescued and taken prisoner). British warships leave Freetown, Sierra Leone, and the island of St. Helena to search for Admiral Scheer.
At 8.22 PM, U-37 sinks British SS Palmella 200 miles West of Porto, Portugal (1 dead, 27 crew and 1 gunner picked up by Spanish trawler Navemar and landed at Lisbon).
Convoy HX-90 is left undefended 340 miles West of Ireland when its ocean escort leaves but the coastal escort does not arrive due to bad weather. At 8.12 PM, U-101 attacks sinking British tanker Appalachee (7 killed, 32 crew picked up by corvette HMS Heliotrope and landed at Londonderry) and damaging steamer Loch Ranza (beached by a tug in Rothesay Bay and repaired at Glasgow until May 1941).