November 8th, 1940 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Southdown commissioned.
GERMANY: Berlin: The RAF bombs the city, forcing Hitler to delay his traditional speech marking the anniversary of his attempted coup in 1923. When he finally gets to speak Hitler asserts the certainty of German victory and that his determination to continue the struggle to a clear decision was unalterable. "Today I reject any compromise," he declared.
ROMANIA: 1,000 people are feared dead in an earthquake which has damaged oilfields.
JAPAN: Admiral NOMURA Kichasaburo is appointed Japanese Ambassador to the United States.
AUSTRALIA, BASS STRAIT: The 5,588 ton U.S. freighter SS City of Rayville is sunk, in Bass Strait 6 miles (9,7 kilometers) south of Cape Otway, Victoria, the first U.S. merchant ship to be lost in the war. She falls victim to a mine, laid by German auxiliary cruiser Pinquin, German ship number 33 also known to the British as Raider F. It and other German ships had layed extensive minefields in major southern Australian shipping lanes. The City of Rayville is carrying 1,500 tons of lead, picked up at Port Pirie, South Australia, bound for Melbourne, Victoria. One of the 39 seamen drowns while trying to recover personal items from the sinking vessel but the 37 other crew survived.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: A Douglas OA-5 PeliA Douglas OA-5 Pelican is the first aircraft to land at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage.
U.S.A.: Washington: The government ponders raising the US debt limit from $49 billion to $65 billion to fund rearmament.
The US Navy commissions Motor Torpedo Squadron (MTBRons) 2.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-47 damaged SS Gonçalo Velho.