1932 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The British Broadcasting Company's (BBCs) Empire Service is inaugurated, transmitting from the UK on two short-wave transmitters at Daventry, Northamptonshire, England.
1934 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The London Naval Disarmament Conference began in October with the major naval powers making a last attempt at negotiating a naval disarmament treaty in London. With mounting political tensions, the conference collapses today without agreement.
1937 (SUNDAY)
SPAIN: The Spanish Republicans succeed in wresting Teruel from Francisco Franco’s Nationalists. The lack of military supplies and equipment, however, prevents the Republicans from sustaining their offensive, which grinds to a halt.
1938 (MONDAY)
FREE CITY OF DANZIG: Jews ordered by the Nazi Government of Danzig to leave by 1 April 1939. The Danzig Government had adopted the Nazi racial policy on 23 November.
December 20th, 1939 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 'Security Patrols' - Hornum - Borkum. 77 Sqn. Two aircraft. Bombs dropped on flarepath. 102 Sqn. One aircraft. Bombs dropped on flarepath.Experts examine the captured RDF
system of the 'Graf Spee'.
Cris Wetton writes: 'At the time of the sinking of the Graf Spee,
the British had no concrete
proof that the Germans had any form of Radar. A British Engineer called
Derek Bainbridge-Bell was flown out to examine any Radar equipment; as
far as I recall, he was only able to examine the antenna - which was
sufficient to determine the frequency range but not much else. I have an
album of German cigarette cards detailing the armed forces and dating
from 1940. The Graf Spee features in the naval section and it is easy to
see that the radar antenna has been carefully blanked out.'
'O Thou whose righteous judgements stand', a new wartime hymn with music composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams, is published.
FRANCE: The fourth meeting of the Allied Supreme War Council takes place.
U.S. freighter SS Nishmaha is free to sail from Marseilles to continue her voyage, but port conditions and weather prevent her from sailing as scheduled.
GERMANY: U-122 launched.
The conversion of the 7,862 ton German surface raider HK Atlantis, ship number 16 and soon to be identified by the British as Raider C, to a Hilfskreuzer (Auxiliary Cruiser or raider) is completed. She will set sail on her first mission on 31 March 1940.
U.S.A.: Washington: The USA forbids the exports of technical data for producing aviation fuel, as well as the fuel itself to belligerent countries.
Heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) disembarks scuttled German passenger liner SS Columbus's "distressed mariners" at Ellis Island immigration centre in New York Harbour.
ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires: Kpt.z.S. Hans Langsdorff, the commander of the 'Graf
Spee', while in his room in the Naval Arsenal in Buenos Aires where the ships
officers were being held, commits
suicide with a shot to the head. He is found this morning wrapped in the ensign
of his ship. He was later buried in the Cementerio del Norte in Buenos Aires.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-22 sank SS Mars.
British destroyer HMS Hyperion (H 97) intercepts the 32,581 ton German passenger liner SS Columbus 391 nautical miles (724 kilometers) east of Cape May, New Jersey. Columbus is scuttled to prevent capture; two crewmen perish in the abandonment. The USN heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) rescues Columbus' survivors (567 men and nine women stewardesses) and sets course for New York City, the only U.S. port that can handle such a large and sudden influx of aliens. Meanwhile the British light cruiser HMS Orion (85) intercepts the German freighter SS Arauca off Miami, Florida; Arauca puts in to Port Everglades to avoid capture. Destroyer USS Truxtun (DD-229) has trailed the merchantman at one point; destroyer USS Philip (DD-76) is present when Arauca reaches sanctuary. A U.S. Army Air Corps B-18 Bolo of the 21st Reconnaissance Squadron (Long Range) based at Miami Municipal Airport, however, witnesses the shot that HMS Orion fires over Arauca's bow (in the attempt to force the latter to heave-to) splashing inside U.S. territorial waters off Hialeah, Florida. Learning of this incident, Secretary of State Cordell Hull instructs U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James Joseph P. Kennedy to remind the British Foreign Office that, as neutrals, the American republics are entitled to have their waters "free from the commission of any hostile act by any non-American belligerent nation." SS Arauca is interned by the U.S. government and is acquired by the USN from the Maritime Commission on 20 April 1942 and commissioned as the refrigerated storeship USS Saturn (AF-40) the same day.