Milestones in U. S. Naval Aviation

1941 - 1945

Year/
Month

Ships & Aircraft

Events

Battle

Political/Administrative action

1941
January

10 January: Lend-Lease Bill introduced in Congress.

1941
February

1 February: U. S. Atlantic Fleet organised under the command of Admiral Ernest J. King.

1941
March

11 March: Lend-Lease passes Congress.

25 March: President Roosevelt authorises British warships to be repaired in U. S. shipyards.

31 March: President Roosevelt authorises the Coast Guard to seize Axis and Danish merchant ships in U. S. ports.

1941
April

28 April: CV-9 Essex keel laid

9 April: U.S. assumes administrative control of Greenland, taking over from Denmark until the latter country is freed from German occupation.

10 April: U. S. destroyer DD-424 USS Niblack depth charges a German U-boat while rescuing survivors from a torpedoed Dutch freighter in the North Atlantic. This is the first attack by a U. S. Navy ship on an Axis ship in WWII.

1941
May

15 May: U. S. interns French merchant ships in American ports.

19-27 May: The chase and sinking of battleship DKM Bismarck

21 May: U. S. freighter SS Robin Moore is sunk by U-69 in the south Atlantic, becoming the first American merchant ship to be sunk in WWII.

27 May: President Roosevelt proclaims a State of National Emergency.

29 May: U.S. agrees to train 8,000 British aviators at American bases.

1941
June

6 June: U.S. government authorises the seizure of any foreign ships in U.S. ports.

14 June: Axis assets in the United States are frozen.

16 June: U.S. government orders the closing of German and Italian consulates in U.S., to be completed in thirty days.

24 June: President Roosevelt promises aid to Soviet Union.

1941
July

31 July: CV-9 Essex launched

7 July: U.S. troops occupy Iceland.

25 July: U.S. Government freezes Chinese and Japanese assets in the United States.

1941
August

9-12 August: American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland.

14 August: Roosevelt and Churchill announce the Atlantic Charter, in effect an alliance between the United States and Great Britain. Other nations ratify the charter, which lays the foundation for the United Nations.

1941
September

4 September: DD-145 USS Greer is attacked by U-652 while escorting a British convoy in the North Atlantic. No damage is sustained. This is the first Axis attack on a U. S. warship in WWII.

4 September: U.S. extends Lend-Lease aid to Poland.

5 September: U.S. Navy re-establishes Assistant Secretary for Aeronautics, previously abolished as an economy measure. World War I naval aviator Artemus L. Gates is named to the position.

11 September: President Roosevelt authorises the Armed Forces to defend any ships under attack in American waters; this becomes known as the "Shoot First" order.

1941
October

20 October: CV-8 USS Hornet commissioned

17 October: U-568 torpedoes DD-432 USS Kearny, killing 11 men. They are the first U. S. Navy casualties of WWII. Kearny makes it to Iceland for repair.

30 October: President Roosevelt extends one billion dollars in credit to the Soviet Union.

31 October: DD-245 USS Reuben James is sunk by U-562 south of Iceland, becoming the first U. S. Navy warship destroyed by the Axis in WWII.

1941
November

1 November: President Roosevelt orders the U. S. Coast Guard to operate as part of the Navy.

6 November: U.S. cruiser CL-4 USS Omaha and a destroyer sieze the German blockade runner Odenwald in the South Atlantic.

10 November: Prime Minister Churchill announces that Britain will declare war in the event of a Japanese attack on the United States.

24 November: U.S. extends Lend-Lease to Free French.

26 November: U.S. embargoes oil to Japan.

1941
December

31 December: CV-9 USS Essex commissioned

7 December: Aircraft from a Japanese carrier task force strike at the U. S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Other Japanese forces strike at the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway, Malaya, Thailand and Shanghai. See the U. S. Naval Historical Center webpage on the Pearl Harbor attack for details.

7 December: Japan declares war on America and Great Britain.

8 December: United States and Britain declare war on Japan.

9 December: China declares war on Germany, Japan and Italy.

10 December: British battleships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Japanese air attack off the coast of Malaya. They are the first capital ships to be sunk solely by aviation while underway.

11 December: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.

12 December: U.S. takes over fourteen French vessels in American waters, including the luxury liner SS Normandie.

20 December: American freighter Medio is sunk by a Japanese submarine off Eureka, California. She is the first U.S. merchant ship sunk in the Pacific War.

31 December: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz assumes the post of Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, at Pearl Harbor.

Year/
Month

Ships & Aircraft

Events

Battle

Political/Administrative action

1942
January

1942
February

27 February: AV-3 USS Langley sunk off Java

1942
March

1942
April

2-18 April: CV-6 USS Enterprise & CV-8 USS Hornet, Doolittle Raid

18 April: Doolittle Raid on Japan

1942
May

8 May: CV-2 USS Lexington sunk at Coral Sea

7-8 May: Battle of Coral Sea

1942
June

7 June: CV-5 USS Yorktown sunk near Midway Island

4-6 June: Battle of Midway

1942
July

1942
August

7 August: Invasion of Guadalcanal

1942
September

15 September: CV-7 USS Wasp sunk near Guadalcanal

1942
October

26 October: CV-8 USS Hornet sunk at Santa Cruz

26 October: Battle of Santa Cruz Island

1942
November

Operation Torch - invasion of North Africa

1942
December

Year/
Month

Ships & Aircraft

Events

Battle

Political/Administrative action

1943
January

CV-8 USS Hornet struck from the Navy List

1943
February

1943
March

1943
April

1943
May

1943
June

1943
July

1943
August

1943
September

1943
October

1943
November

1943
December

Year/
Month

Ships & Aircraft

Events

Battle

Political/Administrative action

1944
January

1944
February

1944
March

1944
April

1944
May

1944
June

1944
July

1944
August

1944
September

1944
October

23-26 October: The Battle of Leyte Gulf: Consisting of four separate actions, this is considered by many to be the largest naval battle in history.

24 October: The Battle of the Sibuyan Sea - Japanese forces are attacked by carrier aircraft; the super-battleship HIJMS Musashi is sunk.

24-25 October: The Battle of Surigao Strait - An American surface battlegroup ambushes Japanese forces attempting to infiltrate Leyte Gulf through the Surigao Strait. Japanese battleships HIJMS Fuso and HIJMS Yamashiro are sunk, as are most of their supporting ships. This is the only major action of the Leyte Gulf battle that does not involve carrier forces.

25 October: The Battle of Cape Engano - Lured north by Japanese radio signals, Admiral Bill Halsey's carriers sink four Japanese carriers. Unfortunately, the Japanese carriers were stripped of aircraft, and posed little threat.

25 October: The Battle off Samar - the Japanese survivors of the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, including super-battleship HIJMS Yamato, fall upon an American light force of escort carriers, destroyers and destroyer escorts. Desperate and relentless attacks by the Americans, bad weather and accumulating Japanese battle fatigue succeed in turning the Japanese forces.